tibrwp  of  Che  theological  Seminary 

PRINCETON    •   NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

Miss  M.  Miller 

BT  96  ,D8  1836 
Duncan,  John  M.  1790-1851 
Lectures  on  the  general 
principles  of  moral 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/lecturesongenera1836dunc 


LECTURES, 


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MAR  2  191- 


ON  THE 


St, 


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'LES 


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OF 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT, 


A3  THEY  ABE  EXHIBITED 


IN  THE  FIRST  THREE  CHAPTERS 


OF 


GENESIS. 

BY  JOHN  M.  DUNCAN, 

Pastor  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Congregation  of  Baltimore. 


In  the  beginning  the  Word  was,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word 
was  God. — John  i.  1. 

The  Word  was  made  Flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us;  and  we  behold  his  glory, 
the  glory  as  of  the  onlv  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth. 
— John  i  14. 

Every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God. — Rom.  xiv.  12. 


SECOND  EDITION,  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 

VOL.  I. 


BALTIMORE : 

CUSHING    &    SONS 
1836. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  tfte  year  1836,  by 
Joseph  Cushing,  Joseph  Cushing,  Jr.  and  John  Cushing,  in 
the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Maryland. 


PRINTED  BY  LUCAS  AND  DEAVER. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


The  public  having,  as  is  supposed,  called  for  a  reprint  of 
the  "Lectures  on  the  General  Principles  of  Moral  Govern- 
ment," the  Author  has  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  to 
extend  his  illustrations  of  those  principles. — Trinity — the 
term  Person — election — divine  power — and  the  relations 
of  infants  both  ecclesiastical  and  moral,  are  the  principal 
topics,  on  which  he  offers  some  new  observations.  The 
reader  will  find  this  additional  matter  in  the  fifth,  tenth, 
thirteenth,  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  lectures  of  the  pre- 
sent series.  Several  paragraphs  on  the  same,  or  on  other 
general  subjects,  and  which  are  scattered  through  the  work, 
may  readily  be  recognised  as  now  appearing  the  first  time. 
The  discussion  has  been  very  much  amplified ;  but  no 
change  has  been  introduced,  which  would  affect  the  integ- 
rity of  the  argument  as  formerly  stated.  Perhaps  some  of 
the  illustrations  of  the  subject  of  Trinity,  and  of  the  scrip- 
tural phrases  under  which  it  is  supposed  to  be  expressed, 
might  have  been  exchanged  for  those  which  a  more  extend- 
ed investigation  has  afforded.  But  they  have  for  the  most 
part,  and  indeed  always  excepting  in  the  use  of  the  term 
person  and  its  adjuncts,  been  permitted  to  remain  in  their 
own  connexions ;  and  the  reader  has  been  left  to  judge  of 
the  comparative  merits  of  both  for  himself.  And  this  has 
been  done  the  more  readily,  because  the  Author  imagines 
that,  if  his  first  principles  be  scriptural,  and  if  his  conclu- 
sions be  accurate,  a  new  systematic  arrangement  of  moral 


iv  PREFACE. 

doctrines  will  be  required.  In  that  case,  or  when  the  com- 
munity shall  have  perceived  the  necessity  for,  and  duly  ap- 
preciated the  character  of,  such  an  arrangement,  a  thousand 
pens  more  prompt,  more  able  and  better  pointed  than  his 
own,  will  do  ample  justice  to  the  general  discussion. 

The  Author  would  farther  improve  the  opportunity  now 
afforded,  to  state  precisely  the  object  of  his  argument,  and 
the  principle  on  which  his  argument  rests.  This,  it  was 
supposed,  had  been  done  with  great  distinctness  in  the  Lec- 
tures themselves ;  and  even  with  a  frequency  that  seemed 
to  be  almost  wearisome.  It  would  appear,  however,  that 
he  was  mistaken  in  his  impressions ;  as,  in  many  instances, 
the  argument  has  not  been  apprehended,  and  the  difficulty 
thrown,  as  might  have  been  expected,  from  the  mind  of  the 
reader,  is  set  down  as  the  fault  of  the  writer.  He  would 
therefore,  in  the  hope  that  his  preface  may  be  read,  now 
say,  that  his  object  is  to  exhibit  and  illustrate  the  scriptu- 
ral doctrine  of  personal  responsibility ;  and  that  his  prin- 
ciple is,  that  man  has  no  innate  ideas — that  he  cannot  com- 
prehend a  pure  abstraction — that  he  acquires  his  ideas  by 
means  of  his  corporeal  senses — and  that  the  knowledge 
which  he  may  possess  is  conveyed  to  his  mind  by  external 
symbols.  The  object  is  never  forgotten  through  the  en- 
tire discussion ;  and  the  principle  is  uniformly  sustained, 
by  applying  it  to  all  the  relations  which  man  holds,  in  view 
both  of  persons  and  things,  both  of  creation  and  redemption. 
The  doctrines  which  are  advanced  in  reference  to  Trinity, 
and  the  original  government  by  law — to  the  Mediator  and  the 
remedial  government  by  gospel — to  the  material  universe, 
and  to  positive  institutions  under  both  the  legal  and  evan- 
gelical administrations,  are  framed  in  connexion  with  that 
object,  and  result  from  the  application  of  that  principle. 


PREFACE.  V 

The  reader  therefore,  if  he  wishes  to  apprehend  the  doc- 
trines proposed,  to  understand  the  reasonings  by  which  they 
are  enforced,  and  to  deal  candidly  with  the  author  as  a  man 
like  himself,  must  bear  both  the  object  and  the  principle  in 
mind.  The  argument  will  otherwise  be  necessarily  obscure 
to  him,  and  his  criticism  will  be  more  loquacious  than  ac- 
curate ;  but  the  fault  will  be  his  own. 

No  system,  human  or  divine,  physical  or  moral,  political 
or  ecclesiastical,  can  ever  be  fairly  appreciated  by  the  man, 
who  overlooks  its  elemental  points.  None  should  be  more 
fully  convinced  of  the  fact,  than  the  theologians  of  the  pre- 
sent day.  They  do  not  understand,  or  they  differently  in- 
terpret, their  own  creeds  and  articles  of  association ;  they 
hold  protracted  controversies,  and  are  at  a  loss  to  under- 
stand each  other,  or  to  say  whether  they  have  been 
arguing  about  words  or  things;  while  they  unitedly 
charge  the  sceptic  with  dishonorably  passing  by  the  first 
principles  of  the  system,  which  he  so  irreverently  assails. 
One,  who  well  knew  the  value  of  analysis,  and  who  had 
often  exposed  the  hasty  argument  of  a  boastful  polemic, 
has  remarked — "  A  free-thinker,  when  he  hears  some  great 
doctrine  of  Christianity,  lets  off  a  small  objection  and  runs 
away  laughing  at  the  folly,  or  railing  at  the  imposture,  of 
all  who  venture  to  defend  a  divine  revelation ;  he  gathers 
his  brother  unbelievers,  and  they  unite  in  wondering  at  the 
weakness  or  imprudence  of  christians.  He  bolts  into  the 
heart  of  a  grand  religious  system ;  he  has  never  adverted 
to  its  first  principles ;  and  then  complains  the  evidence  is 
bad.  But  the  fault  in  neither  case  lies  in  the  evidence.  It 
lies  in  the  ignorance  or  obstinacy  of  the  objector."  "Know- 
ledge.," says  Solomon,  "  is  easy  to  him  that  understandeth." 

Whatever  may  be  the  merit  of  the  system  developed  in 


vi  PREFACE. 

these  Lectures,  however  novel  it  may  be  considered  by 
some,  or  however  much  it  may  be  censured  as  heretical 
by  others,  the  Author  again  assures  his  reader,  that  he  asks 
for  nothing  but  a  candid  examination  of  its  positions.  He 
courts  no  favor  but  for  the  truth  ;  nor  asks  any  indulgence 
from  those  who  are  capable  of  "looking  a  system  through 
and  through,"  saving  that  which  every  honorable  mind 
cheerfully  extends  to  well  meant  effort.  With  this  con- 
sciousness, he  again  commits  his  publication  to  the  watch- 
ful care  of  that  providence,  which  ever  throws  its  mantle 
over  an  honest  heart — to  the  sympathizing  care  of  the  great 
High  Priest,  who  never  frowns  ingenuousness  from  his 
throne,  nor  withdraws  his  Spirit  from  the  man  who  fears  and 
loves  his  name. 

Baltimore,  1836. 


DEDICATION. 


To  the  Members  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Congregation  of 

Baltimore : 
Dear  Brethren — 

You  will  recognise,  in  the  following  sheets,  the  sub- 
stance of  a  course  of  pulpit  lectures,  on  the  first  three 
chapters  of  Genesis,  which  I  have  just  finished  : — as  well 
as  of  a  series  of  biblical  exercises,  conducted  with  a  class 
of  young  men,  in  your  lecture  room,  two  years  ago. 
Though  I  neither  love  the  toil,  nor  covet  the  honors  of  au- 
thorship, and  advance  no  pretensions  to  "the  art  of  mak- 
ing books  ;"  yet  I  have  been  induced  to  prepare  the  fol- 
lowing pages  for  the  press,  in  consequence  of  having  been 
repeatedly  solicited  so  to  do  ;  and  in  the  fond  hope  of  re- 
lieving some  ingenuous  minds,  which  may  have  been  great- 
ly embarrassed  by  the  technicalities  of  scholastic  theology. 
I  have  endeavored  to  express  myself  in  a  clear  and  perspi- 
cuous manner  ;  though  possibly  in  this  I  may  have  failed 
in  many  instances,  as  I  seldom  use  my  pen,  and  have  now 
been  compelled  to  write  rapidly. 

The  views  which  you  have  already  heard,  and  which 
are  here  presented  to  you  in  a  form  that  will  afford  you  an 
opportunity  for  more  leisurely  examination,  are  the  result 
of  my  own  researches — long,  patiently  and  diligently  pur- 
sued.    This  remark  is  made,  because  I  know  not  to  what 


viii  DEDICATION. 

dark  age,  or  to  what  wandering,  whimsical  and  hated  er- 
rorist,  my  ideas  may  be  referred.  A  hard  name  is  the  ma- 
gic wand,  by  which  an  angry,  but  feeble,  disputant  often 
metamorphoses  the  humblest  pretensions  into  the  mightiest 
misdemeanor.  Already  you  know,  if  rumor  utters  a  true 
report,  I  have  been  represented  as  worthy  to  bear  the  name 
and  the  reproach  of  almost  every  heresy  which  has  ever 
appeared ;  while,  like  the  bible  itself,  whose  paramount 
authority  over  the  christian  conscience,  it  has  been  my  lot 
to  proclaim  and  defend,  I  have  had  the  singular  felicity,  or 
infelicity,  of  being  successively  claimed  by  all  parties. 
The  allegations,  which  have  been  thus  so  freely  made, 
form  no  small  commendation  of  the  argument  to  which 
your  attention  has  been  invited ;  for,  if  different  parties, 
professedly  deriving  their  peculiarities  from  the  bible,  can 
so  readily  discern  their  peculiarities  in  the  doctrines  I 
have  advanced,  those  doctrines  and  the  bible  must  appear 
quite  like  to  each  other.  And  if,  feeling  the  point  of  this 
remark,  critics,  who  have  so  gratuitously  expressed  either 
their  praise  or  their  condemnation,  should  now  change  their 
ground,  they  may,  perhaps,  discover  that  opinions  founded 
on  hearsay  testimony,  or  on  supposed  powers  of  intuition, 
or  under  the  force  of  preconceived  and  obstinate  prejudices, 
will  always,  most  probably,  be  inaccurate.  At  all  events, 
you  will  have  it  fairly  in  your  power  to  correct  the  misre- 
presentations with  which  you  have  been  most  painfully  and 
unkindly  annoyed,  as  well  as  to  show  that  an  honest,  well 
meant  effort  to  elucidate  the  philosophical  principles  of 
Christianity,  by  no  means  involves  the  abandonment  of 
Christianity  itself.  Human  creeds,  however  antique  and 
abstruse  they  may  be,  are  not  in  your  view,  synonymous 


DEDICATION  ix 

with  the  gospel. — The  one  may  be  renounced,  while  the 
other  shall  appear  in  greater  beauty  and  simplicity. 

You  know  well,  that  I  never  have  aspired  after,  and  there- 
fore, in  presenting  the  following  work  to  your  careful  and 
candid  perusal,  cannot  now  be  seeking  to  obtain,  a  domi- 
nion over  your  faith.  The  doctrine  which  you  have  uni- 
formly heard  from  my  lips,  and  which  is  here  transcribed 
with  my  pen,  has  proclaimed  your  right  to  examine  truth 
for  yourselves,  as  the  privilege  and  dignity  of  your  intel- 
lectual existence ;  while  the  distinct  assurance  has  been 
given  to  you  by  the  Redeemer,  that  all  his  children  shall 
be  taught  of  God.  You  can  bear  me  testimony,  how  af- 
fectionately and  earnestly  these  high  considerations  have 
been  pressed  on  your  attention.  If  indeed  the  Master, 
whom  I  desire  humbly  and  efficiently  to  serve,  has  by  his 
Spirit,  written  my  "epistle  of  commendation"  on  your  hearts, 
I  hope  I  know  how  to  thank  him  for  the  official  honors  so 
graciously  conferred,  and  at  the  same  time  to  rejoice  with 
you  in  your  joy. 

Most  cheerfully  do  I  inscribe  this  volume  to  you. 
Twenty  years  have  elapsed,  since  the  pastoral  care  of  the 
congregation  was  committed  to  my  hands.  Many  have 
gone  from  among  you,  during  that  short  period,  to  meet 
"the  Lord  in  the  air,"  and  rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  his 
glory  ;  and  many  more,  I  fondly  trust,  are  peacefully  wait- 
ing the  call  from  on  high,  which  shall  summon  them  home. 
At  the  same  time,  other  events  have  occurred,  and  painful 
to  be  remembered,  which  were  the  source  of  the  keenest 
anxieties ;  and  which  are  now  alluded  to,  only  because  they 
awake  the  fond  recollection  of  your  uninterrupted  kind- 
nesses ;  while,  from  your  own  well  formed  convictions  of 


x  DEDICATION. 

the  value  of  christian  liberty,  you  cheerfully  sustained  the 
struggle,  in  which  the  acquisition  of  the  sacred  boon  in- 
volved you.  With  like  magnanimity,  I  have  no  doubt  you 
will  maintain  the  blessing  so  secured.  Your  various  sym- 
pathies and  affectionate  regards  are,  and  ever  shall  be, 
most  gratefully  reciprocated :  Nor  shall  my  heart  cease  to 
plead  for  your  spiritual  and  everlasting  welfare,  and  that  of 
your  children,  while  the  hand,  that  records  its  tenderest 
emotions,  shall  be  able  to  subscribe  the  name  of 
Your  brother  and  pastor, 

JOHN  M.  DUNCAN. 
April,  1832, 


CONTENTS. 


Preface,     ---- 3 

Dedication, 7 

LECTURE  I. 

Introductory — The  divine  constitutions — Value  of  the  chapters 
under  consideration — Present  state  of  society — Personal  re- 
sponsibility— Improvements — Mystery,  13 

LECTURE  II. 

Of  God — Reason  and  nature  of  divine  manifestations — The  Elo- 
him — Trinity — Sabellianism— Arianism — Hilary  and  Augustin 
— Mosaic  dispensation — Moses  and  Paul  compared  in  view  of 
the  manner  in  which  they  speak  of  God — Redeemer's  explana- 
tion of  Elohim — Propriety  of  the  term,  -        -        -        -    36 

LECTURE  III. 

Subject  continued — Two-fold  manifestation  of  God — Jehovah- 
Elohim  or  Word — Word  made  flesh — Form  of  God — Form  of 
Man — Name — Appearances  to  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob 
— To  Moses — Scriptural  statements  reconciled,      -         -         -     68 

LECTURE  IV. 

Subject  continued — Jehovah — The  Spirit — Analogies — Trinity 
stated — Terms  explained — Views  of  the  divine  operations  in 
relation  to  the  government  of  man, 92 

LECTURE  V. 

Subject  continued — Spirit  and  Soul  and  Body — Hypostasis  or 
Person — Elohim  and  Son  of  God  equivalent — The  Redeemer's 
explanation  of  Elohim — Official  men  called  Elohim — Angels 
called  Elohim — Political  analogies,        -----  123 


Xll  CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  VI. 

Of  creation — Appropriate  manifestation  of  Jehovah — Plural 
terms — Character  of  the  creature — Man — Made  in  the  image 
of  the  Elohim — His  body — His  spirit — Origin  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility— Its  relations — Spirit's  operations — Human  abi- 
lity,       164 

LECTURE  VII. 

Paradisiacal  constitution — An  external  and  political  dispensation 
— Not  inconsistent  with  personal  responsibility — Tree  of  life — 
Popular  view  of  Adam's  sin  and  its  consequences — Law  given 
to  Adam  compared  with  law  given  by  Moses — Redeemer's 
work — Analogies — Theologians  reason  against  themselves — 
Force  of  the  phrase  for  thy  sake, 195 

LECTURE  VIII. 

Symbols — Fall — Its  circumstances — Its  effects — Use  of  the  tree 
of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil — Physical  agent  by  which 
death  was  introduced — Nature  of  death — Condition  of  all  men 
— Law  and  Gospel — Human  depravity,  -  226 

LECTURE  IX. 

Mediatorial  constitution — Its  origin — Mediator — God  manifested 
in  the  flesh — Seed  of  the  woman, 264 

LECTURE  X. 

Difficulties  stated — The  delivering  the  kingdom  to  the  Father 
when  the  end  shall  come — Official  analogies — Redeemer's 
prayers — Spirit  and  its  various  operations  in  application  of  the 
views  developed  in  Lecture  V. 290 


LECTURES 

ON 

MORAL    GOVERNMENT 


LECTURE  I. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

The  divine  constitutions — Value  of  the  chapters  under  con- 
sideration— Present  state  of  society — Personal  responsi- 
bility— Mystery. 

I  have  announced  my  intention  of  delivering  a  series  of 
prelections,  on  the  first  three  chapters  of  Genesis.  You 
may,  perhaps,  be  aware,  that  in  executing  this  intention, 
sundry  questions  might  arise  which  are  of  a  purely  scientific 
character.  It  is  no  part  of  my  design  to  state,  or  answer 
those  questions.  The  object  I  have  in  view  is  a  discussion 
of  the  general  principles  of  God's  moral  government  in  our 
world,  to  which  discussion  your  candid  and  patient  attention 
is  invited. 

The  history  of  man  and  the  study  of  the  Bible  present 
to  every  inquirer  after  truth  two  great  constitutions,  which 
have  been  established  by  divine  legislation — the  one  origi- 
nal, and  the  other  remedial.  They  are  respectively  described 
as  exactly  corresponding  with  the  intellectual  attributes  of 
human  beings ;  as  happily  suited  to  their  earthly  condition ; 
and  as  terminating  in  their  weal  or  their  wo,  on  principles 
of  perfect  righteousness*  These  constitutions  are  uniform*. 
Vol.  I.— 2 


14  LECTURES  ON 

ly,  in  the  scriptures,  denominated  Law  and  Gospel;  and 
we  speak  of  them  in  the  most  familiar  manner,  using  those 
distinctive  appellations  without  any  reserve.  Yet  it  is  very 
evident  that  they  are  not,  either  politically  or  technically, 
fairly  understood,  A  spirit  of  baneful  controversy  has 
.  long  since  con  verted  them  into  topics  of  angry  and  embit- 
tered strife.  At  the  present  moment,  the  whole  church  has 
become  the  arena  of  most  unhappy  contention ;  and  I  fear, 
too  much  is  not  said,  when  the  description  is  extended  so  far 
as  to  sketch  out  a  moral  aceldama,  where  ministerial  plumes 
lie  dishonored;  and  where,  to  rob  a  brother  of  his  high  and 
holy  reputation,  as  a  servant  of  Jesus,  becomes  the  boasted 
exploit  of  sectarian  ambition. 

In  undertaking  to  elucidate  the  principles  of  these  two 
constitutions,  I  enter  not  the  lists  as  a  combatant.  They  fall 
under  my  cognizance  in  the  regular  discharge  of  official 
duty.  The  systematic  arrangements  under  which  I  seek  to 
detail  my  view;,  or  to  investigate  the  philosophy  of  the  con- 
stitutions referred  to,  may  indeed  require  many  a  painful  al- 
lusion to  the  state  of  moral  science,  to  the  present  condition 
of  the  church,  and  to  the  future  times,  whose  melancholy 
prognostics  cro  vc  upon  us  -o  thickly  and  rapidly;  but  I  have 
no  personal  quart  ;      not  any  sectarian  animosities 

to  indulge.  The  attempt  has  been  induced  by  a  peculiar 
interest  I  have  neon  led  to  cherish  in  the  chapters  selected. 

In  them  a  group  oi  interesting  facts  is  exhibited  to 

year  view.  A  series  f  transactions,  peculiar  on  account 
of  their  simplicity,  is  d       I lave  transpired;  and  there- 

cord  of  the  whole  is  unincumbered  with  any  difficult  tech- 
nicalities, unembarassed  by  doctrinal  speculations,  and  un- 
broken by  so]  iimenl  -rising  from  jarring  systems: 
or,  there  is  no  portion  of  the  sacrefl  volume,  which  we  can 
so  easily  divesl  th  intages.  The  narrative  pre- 
sents, so  to  speak,  a  nitd  of  moral  inquiry  which  has  seldom 
been  explored.  It  is  a  part  of  the  holy  scriptures  on  which 
a  lecture  or  a  sermon  is  rarely  heard  from  ourpulpits.  While 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  15 

the  general  mind  may  have  thus  been  unwarily  led  to  over- 
look it  as  unimportant,  the  facts  and  phrases  will  have  a  no- 
velty and  a  freshness  about  them,  and  an  opportunity  will 
be  afforded  to  look  at  divine  things  under  other  than  the  or- 
dinary forms  of  illustration.  Like  our  own  beloved  land, 
which  has  become  the  welcome  asylum  to  the  advocates  of 
political  liberty ;  who,  tired  of  the  oppression  of  some  an- 
cient regime,  would  gladly  escape  from  the  misrule  of  a  crip- 
pled, but  infatuated  desrotism;  these  chapters  may  afford, 
to  a  conscientious  and  independent  inquirer  after  truth,  a 
freedom  of  investigation,  after  which  he  sighed  in  vain  amid 
the  subtleties  and  mysteries  of  scholastic  theology. 

Let  there,  however,  be  no  misunderstanding.     I  have  not 
said  that  these  chapters  have  never  been  examined.     Use 
has  been  made  of  them.     But  commonty,  they  are  supposed 
to  state  certain  doctrines,  which,  after  a  course  of  previous 
instruction  authoritatively  communicated,  they  would  ap-m 
pear  to  state.     From  such  an  appearance,  easily  discovered 
when  a  proper  medium  has  been  provided,  those  doctrines 
are  assumed  as  true;  and  then  the  various  assumptions  thus 
derived,  are  carried  into  all  parts  of  the  scriptures,  as  con- 
taining the  true  principles  of  all  wise  and  accurate  biblical 
exegesis.      Now  the  question  which  will  meet  you  at  every 
step  in  the  analysis  on  which  we  are  about  to  enter,  involves 
the  truth  of  those  assumptions.     If  they  shall  be  found 
true,  the  conclusions  to  which  they  lead  must  of  course  be 
sustained:  because  the  reasoning  by  which  they  have  been 
reached  i?  not  to  be  refuted.     But  if  those  assumptions  are 
not  true,  the  conclusions  to  which  the}'  lead  cannot  be  de- 
fended.    The  many  new  premises  which  may  be  laid  doAvn. 
must  be  carried  through  all  our  scriptural  exposition,  and 
will  modify  every  subsequent  view  which  authority  may 
have  imposed,  or  education  engrafted.     The  process  is  not 
very  difficult,  where  candor  is  not  lacking,,  or  where  preju- 
dices are  not  suffered  to  reign  in  arbitrary  and  undisputed 
sway.     /\  mind,  thus  furnished  for  investigation,  is  as  un- 


16  LECTURES  ON" 

likely  to  be  deceived,  as  it  is  likely  to  acquire  truth ;  for  its 
communion  is  with  the  God  of  truth,  and  its  appeal  for  wis- 
dom is  to  him  who  "giveth  to  all  men  liberally,  and  up- 
braideth  not." 

You  may,  perhaps,  more  distinctly  perceive  the  propriety r 
and  more  cheerfully  submit  to  the  temporary  guidance  of 
the  passage  I  have  selected,  if  I  plead  in  its  behalf  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Master  himself.  When  the  pharisees  came  to 
him  with  a  question  which  great^  agitated  the  schools  of 
Sammai  and  Hillel,  and  asked,  whether  it  was  "lawful  for  a 
man  to  put  away  his  wife,"  he  answered,  "what  did  Moses 
command  you  ?"  They  readily  replied—"  Moses  suffered  to 
give  her  a  bill  of  divorcement  and  to  put  her  away."  True, 
said  the  Redeemer — ■"  For  the  hardness  of  your  heart  he 
wrote  you  that  precept;  but  from  the  beginning  of  the 
creation  God  made  them  male  and  female."  Back  to  the 
beginning,  and  to  the  records  contained  in  these  chapters,  he 
carried  these  disputants,  when  they  were  controverting  a 
point  of  moral  law.  May  we  not  do  the  same  ?  And  are  we 
not  particularly,  not  only  warranted,  but  induced  to  do  so, 
when  we  discover,  from  his  mode  of  explaining  apparent 
difficulties,  wherein  certain  things  do  not  seem  to  harmonize 
with  general  and  original  principles,  that  those  difficulties 
arise  from  mistaking  the  character  and  intention  of  some  in- 
tervening circumstances,  which  were  merely  prudential  and 
temporary?  The  Mosaic  law  was  enacted  by  the  divine 
lawgiver;  yet  it  does  not  alter  the  original  statute,  when  the 
condition  of  the  world  no  longer  required  the  contemplated 
indulgence,  and  society  could  return  to  her  primordial  rela- 
tions. Possibly  there  may  be  some  other  matters  besides 
those  which  are  connected  with  the  subject  of  divorce,  and 
about  which  theologians  may  be  as  much  divided  as  the  two 
Jewish  schools  referred  to;  and  in  relation  to  which  they 
may  be  equally  fastidious,  without  possessing  superior  infor- 
mation.    Peradventure  an  appeal  to  primeval  ordinances 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  17 

may  be  as  clear  and  satisfactory  in  such  cases,  as  in  the  pre- 
cedent which  has  been  furnished.* 

But  can  we  not  all  perceive,  that,  in  the  present  day, 
there  are  special  reasons,  why  a  minister  of  the  gospels  ten- 
derly and  affectionately  regarding  the  heritage  which  the 
Lord  hath  given  him,  should  undertake  such  a  discussion, 
and  in  a  manner  most  consistent  with  his  best  judgment? 
We  live  in  a  singular  age,  when  many  christians  act,  and 
many  ministers  sustain  their  influence,  more  by  excitement 
than  by  any  other  means.  It  is  with  pain  I  even  hint  at 
some  of  the  meagre  operations  of  the  day.  But  the  state 
of  the  case  is  as  I  have  described  it;  and  the  revulsion  must 
be  felt  by  every  intelligent  mind.  Is  not  the  whole  church 
deeply  agitated  ?  Are  not  religious  communities  every  where 
thrown  into  distraction  and  turmoil  ?  The  innovations  that 
have  disturbed  the  mahomedan  imposture — the  encroach- 
ments which  have  invaded  papal  misrule — the  various  as- 
saults against  the  union  of  church  and  state — the  divisions 
between  high  church  and  low  church,  old  school  and  new 
school,  of  which  multitudes  talk  so  significantly  and  freely — 
the  outcry  against  sectarianism — the  breaking  up  and 
threatened  dissolution  of  old  and  established  parties — the 
warm  controversies  to  which  voluntary  associations  have 
given  rise — the  social  combinations  which  are  starting  up 
all  around  us,  and  in  which  the  restlessness  of  the  public 
mind  seeks  to  expend  its  zeal — this  new,  this  high,  this 
varied  excitement,  which  seems  so  little  to  regard  ancient 
ordinances,  and  is  pervading  the  whole  of  our  moral  inter- 
ests— what  means  it  all  ? 

*  Bonaparte's  biographer  reports  him  to  have  observed — "  There  are 
so  many  different  religions,  or  modifications  of  them,  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  know  which  to  choose.  If  one  religion  had  existed  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world,  I  should  think  it  to  be  the  true  one;  as  it  is,  I 
am  of  opinion  that  every  person  ought  to  continue  in  the  religion  in 
which  he  was  brought  up — in  that  of  his  father."  O'Meara,  vol.  1. 127. 
2* 


LECTURES  ON 

Some  are  standing  in  great  fearfulness,  amazed  at  the 
scene  before  them.  Others  are  weeping,  and  are  trembling 
for  the  ark  itself,  because  the  fathers,  who  were  so  wise  and 
good,  so  learned  and  holy,  have  lost  their  influence.  And 
many  are  smiling  with  great  complacency,  promising  to  them- 
selves that  the  falsehood  of  Christianity  shall  soon  be  ex- 
posed, and  that  the  progress  of  light  and  knowledge  shall 
soon  drive  all  priestcraft  from  the  world.  Though  very  dif- 
ferent in  their  feelings,  yet  are  they  not  all  alike  superficial 
in  theii  views?  Are  not  these  conflicts  too  general — have 
they  not  approached  with  a  pace  too  regular,  and  with  an 
energy  too  powerful,  to  be  discarded  as  unworthy  of  candid 
and  patient  examination?  They  must  have  a  reason,  and 
that  reason  must  be  commensurate  with  themselves.  Some 
change  must  have  occurred,  involving  the  constitution  of 
the  human  mind  itself,  to  wake  up  all  this  diversified  feel- 
to  call  forth  all  this  activity ;  and  so  deeply  to  interest, 
not  only  all  denominations  of  christians,  but  all  classes  of 
human  beings.  And  he  who  presides  over  the  whole — 
the  mediatorial  prince  who  has  foretold,  from  ancient  times, 
the  events  which  are  to  come  to  pass  in  the  latter  days,  must 
be  about  to  accomplish  some  glorious  work.     To  be  more 

:  i  ctilar : 

Li i  order  to  approach  our  subject  by  the  most  accessible 
avenue,  permit  me  to  ask  you,  why  is  it  that  the  political 
world  is  so  much  agitated  ?  Mankind  are  not  more  quiet  as 
p  ►liticians,  than  they  are  as  religionists.  The  fact  every  one 
knows.  Revolutions  and  changing  dynasties  are  too  fre- 
quent, succeed  each  other  too  rapidly,  are  followed  by  con- 
sequences too  marked,  and  are  met  by  too  many  responses 
prompt  and  loud,  not  to  rouse  the  intensest  anxiety.  Ought 
the  fact  to  be  explained?  Or  shall  we  standoff  wondering 
at  the  phenomenon,  weeping  over  the  convulsion,  or  smiling 
complacently  at  the  prospect  of  a  catastrophe,  in  which  all 
civil  government  shall  terminate  ?  Nay,  you  all  know  the 
reason  of  these  perplexities.   Your  children  know  it.    With 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  19 

what  enthusiasm  you  talk  about  liberty  ;  How  quickly  they 
imbibe  the  spirit  of  independence  you  breathe.  Not  only 
so;  but  to  our  own  American  revolution,  as  commencing  a 
new  era  in  the  political  world,  you  ascribe  the  struggles  of 
the  nations  after  free  institutions. 

How  came  you  to  know  all  this  ?  How  does  it  happen  that 
you  so  harmoniously  agree  as  to  the  identity  of  a  general 
cause,  so  mighty  in  its  influence,  so  certain  in  its  progress, 
and  so  varied  in  its  results  ?  You  have  not  speculated  at  haz- 
ard. You  have  not  theorised  at  random,  nor  reasoned  with- 
out premises.  You  sat  down  and  carefully  pondered  all 
you  heard.  You  respectfully  listened  to  jTour  statesmen, 
while  they  leisurely  discussed  general  principles,  traced  ef- 
fects to  their  causes,  and  demonstrated  the  inappropriateness 
of  ancient  customs  and  laws.  Your  politicians  were  nei- 
ther ashamed  nor  afraid  to  declare  what  they  thought.  They 
courageously  met,  or  with  manly  fortitude  endured,  the  dif- 
ficulties attendant  on  their  noble  enterprise  ;  and  now,  when 
they  are  gone,  you  celebrate  their  deeds,  imitate  their  ex- 
ample, and  prize,  as  your  richest  inheritance,  the  freedom 
they  left  you. 

Grant  to  your  ministers  like  liberty  and  boldness  of  speech, 
listen  with  equal  patience  and  without  prejudice,  examine 
with  similar  candor  and  care,  and  you  may  as  readily  com- 
prehend the  cause  of  all  that  religious  excitement  which  has 
occurred.  The  cases  are  parallel ;  for  what  you  call  politics 
is  but  a  branch,  and  a  very  important  branch,  of  morals. 
The  law  of  God,  James  informs  us,  is  "the  law  of  liberty :" 
so  that  your  profession  calls  upon  you  to  subscribe  to  the 
doctrine  of  liberty,  in  its  reference  to  Christ's  kingdom.  It 
is  your  privilege  to  be  the  freemen  of  the  Lord.  You  are  for- 
bidden to  call  any  man  master.  Search  then  and  see. 
Are  you  not  under  the  dominion  of  an  ecclesiastical  lord- 
ship, which  men  have  claimed  the  right  to  set  up?  Has  the 
question  of  liberty  been  finally  and  fully  settled  by  the  re- 
formers in  their  contest  with  papal  infallibility  ?  Do  you  live 


•20  LECTURES  ON 

under  no  restrictions  created  by  a  sectarian  policy,  which 
have  been  boldly  defended  ?  Feel  you  no  oppression  from 
the  hand  of  ecclesiastical  power?  If  you  do,  then  may  you 
easily  comprehend  the  reason  of  the  present  excitement.  If 
you  do  not,  others  do,  and  they  have  risen,  to  complain.  It 
is  no  part  of  their  object  to  undermine  Christianity,  or  to  de- 
cline into  some  of  the  heresies  of  which  they  have  been  so 
ungenerously  accused.  They  love  their  Master,  and  bless 
him  for  his  word.  They  delight  in  his  law  after  the  inner 
man,  and  live  in  intimate  fellowship  with  him  as  their  coun- 
sellor and  their  Lord ;  but  they  demand  the  liberty  where- 
with he  hath  set  them  free. 

Many  may  still  suppose  that  this  subject  of  moral  liberty 
has  made  but  little  impression  on  the  religious  mind.  And 
so  far  as  I  have  yet  stated  the  matter,  the  remarks  which 
have  been  offered  will,  perhaps,  not  be  felt  as  very  conclu- 
sive. Combatants  on  all  sides  seem  to  be  very  fond  of  ec- 
clesiastical jurisdiction,  and  of  the  ancient  creeds,  as  well 
as  of  the  annual  statutes,  of  church  courts.  The  deceptive 
ostentation,  the  dazzling  magnificence  of  exterior  policy, 
together  with  the  show  of  official  character,  make  a  strong 
appeal  to  the  senses.  There  are,  therefore,  other  matters 
pertaining  to  the  subject  of  liberty,  which  must  be  previously 
settled,  and  the  discussion  of  which  will  elevate  the  human 
mind  above  the  glitter  and  pomp  of  outward  circumstance. 
Or,  according  to  the  favorite  maxim  of  the  creed  defen- 
ders,— "no  man  turns  against  creeds  until  creeds  turn  against 
him,"  which  is  in  other  words  to  assert,  that  no  patriot  turns 
against  the  political  government  of  his  country  until  he  feels 
that  government  to  oppress  him — according  to  this  maxim, 
the  religious  community  will  not  lose  their  admiration  of  ec- 
clesiastical and  sectarian  control,  until  the  discussion  of 
some  previous  questions  shall  have  elevated  their  moral 
views.  But  then  that  discussion  is  now  going  on  with  fear- 
ful intrepidity,  and  ecclesiastical  politicians  are  trembling 
for  the  shibboleth  of  their  parry.     Nor  must  they  be  sur- 


Moral  government.  21- 

prised,  or  feel  themselves  entitled  to  break  out  into  sarcasm 
and  invective,  because  that  those  who  are  outside,  as  well 
as  those  who  are  inside,  of  the  church,  are  deeply  interest- 
ed in  the  controversy.  The  matters  at  issue  involve  the 
interest  and  character  of  the  human  mind.— Let  me  ex- 
plain: 

On  what  ground  may  any  man  claim  his  liberty  1  God 
made  him  free,  it  may  be  answered.  But  on  what  princi- 
ple has  his  Creator  constructed  his  liberty?  Is  it  not  on  the 
individuality  of  his  being,  or  in  view  of  his  personal  respon- 
sibility ?  And  is  not  this  same  subject  of  personal  responsi~ 
bility,  at  this  very  moment,  under  discussion  every  where  ? 
If  then  you  can  rob  a  man  of  his  own  sense  of  individuality, 
or  make  him  feel  so  inane  that  he  ceases  to  regard  the  value 
of  personal  character ;  or  if  you  can  paralyze  his  conscience , 
and  dissipate  his  self  esteem ;  then  you  may,  by  mere  pow~ 
er,  call  it  civil  or  ecclesiastical  as  you  please,  prostrate  his 
liberty.  But  rest  assured,  that  in  proportion  as  he  recovers 
the  feeling  of  personal  character,  the  scale  will  be  turned, 
and  a  crisis  will  come  on,  when  the  offensive  statutes  must 
be  rescinded.  If  this  is  true,  the  day  of  ecclesiastical  liber- 
ty has  dawned,  and  is  hastening  to  its  meridian  splendors. 
Men  may  hold  to  their  creeds  if  they  please,  and  talk  about 
the  value  of  ecclesiastical  rule,  and  the  impossibility  of 
doing  without  it  if  they  choose,  but  their  hour  is  coming. 

Take  an  illustration  or  two.  Many  have  been  resolving 
religion  into  an  exclusive  operation  of  divine  power.  But 
now,  you  everywhere  hear  the  doctrine  of  personal  respon- 
sibility urged  with  great  point  and  force-.  Such  expressions 
as  the  following,  are  become  very  common:  "Men  may  be 
saved  if  they  will:  if  they  are  not  saved,  the  fault  is  their 
own."  And  when  the  statement  is  thus  unequivocally  set 
forth,  multitudes,  who  have  lived  on  the  faith  of  other 
times,  are  exceedingly  startled.  The  preacher  is  immedi- 
ately suspected  of  heresy — it  may  be  pelagianism,  or  uni- 
tarianism;  rumor  begins  her  "many  inventions,"  and  puts 


82  LECTURES  ON 

forth  her  romantic  tales;  a  series  of  heart-burnings  is  en- 
gendered, and  ministers  and  elders  learn  to  tamper  with  the 
conscience  of  their  brother.  It  is  a  very  curious  question, 
and  worthy  of  consideration — why  are  so  many  old  chris- 
tians offended,  when  they  hear  the  sinner's  perdition  as- 
cribed to  his  own  fault?  Do  they  mean  to  say,  that  the  fault 
is  God's?  If  they  do  not,  why  are  they  offended? 

Politics,  I  have  said,  constitute  a  very  important  branch 
of  morals,  and  involve  the  principles  of  government.  The 
ideas  which  men  may  have  adopted  in  relation  to  govern- 
ment, must  be  applied  consistently,  whether  to  a  divine  or 
human  administration:  and  necessarily  so.  Now  in  the 
common  discussions  which  grow  out  of  regal  pretensions,  a 
controversy  has  long  been  pending,  whether  the  sovereign- 
ty of  kings  and  the  free  agency  of  the  people  are  compati- 
ble with  each  other?  Dreary  and  disastrous  has  been  the  ex- 
periment to  which  this  matter  has  been  subjected.  At 
length,  among  ourselves,  the  sovereignty  of  rulers  has  been 
put  under  wholesome  restrictions.  The  free  agency,  the 
individuality,  the  liberty  of  the  people  is  now,  in  our  land, 
the  popular  doctrine;  and  it  is  carrying  its  reforming  influ- 
ence into  all  parts  of  the  world. 

So  it  is  in  the  christian  church.  The  doctrine  of  divine 
sovereignty  has  long  been  stated  in  a  form  which  is  supposed 
to  interfere  with  human  free  agency.  Religious  doctrines 
are  often  approached  with  a  superstitious  dread,  as  though 
it  were  unlawful  to  investigate  such  sacred  mysteries.  But 
the  political  maxims  which  have  become  established,  are 
bringing,  in  spite  of  our  fastidiousness,  the  subtleties  of  scho- 
lastic theology  into  comparison  with  themselves.  This  re- 
sult cannot  be  avoided.  Demonstrate  the  free  agency  of 
man,  and  on  the  principle  of  free  agency  he  will  reason  eve- 
ry where.  Show  it  to  him  first  where  the  light  is  not  too 
brilliant  for  his  steady  gaze,  and  after  a  little  he  will  follow 
on  to  look  at  the  same  thing  in  more  splendid  connexions; 
nor  will  he  be  restrained  by  any  legislative  enactments 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  23 

which  men  may  frame.  Under  the  government  of  God, 
are  men  free  agents?  If  they  are,  how  can  this  comport 
with  the  old  doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty?  If  they  are 
free  agents,  are  they  not  personally  responsible  to  God ;  and 
then  what  becomes  of  the  ecclesiastical  sovereignty  of  men  ? 
In  whatever  sense  sovereignty  may  be  ascribed,  yet  it  may 
well  be  asked,  are  men  entitled  to  dominion  over  the  human 
conscience,  so  far  that  they  may  make  authoritative  creeds 
as  standards  of  doctrine?  and,  erecting  those  creeds  into 
terms  of  communion,  may  they  deprive  a  minister  or  a  chris- 
tian of  spiritual  privileges  in  the  community  where  the  pro- 
vidence of  God%ay  have  located  him? 

Carrying  the  inquiry  a  little  farther,  another  question 
arises.  Can  a  man  be  personally  responsible  for  that  which 
he  does  not  possess ;  or  for  that  which  he  cannot  perform  ? 
Do  the  scriptures  proffer  to  the  faith  of  mankind  a  doctrine 
of  divine  sovereignty,  which  represents  it  as  demanding 
that  which  a  man  cannot  render?  In  political  controversy, 
the  human  mind  has  acquired  other  ideas  of  responsibility; 
and  wrill  no  attempt  be  made  to  ascertain  how  far  those  ideas 
are  compatible  with  cur  relations  to  the  divine  throne?  Ad- 
mitting, as  every  man  must  freely  admit,  the  infirmities  of 
human  nature;  and  moreover  admitting,  as  every  biblical 
reader  must  freely  admit,  that  without  a  Mediator  we  can  do 
not  kino;;  yet  the  question  necessarily  arises,  does  not  divine 
sovereignty  impose  its  commands  on  us,  as  on  agents  sus- 
tained by  evangelic  privileges  ?  Is  it  not  the  sovereignty  of 
a  mediator  of  which  the  scriptures  speak?  Are  they  not 
describing  the  administration  of  "a  merciful  and  faithful 
high  priest"  seated  on  the  throne ;  who,  having  learned  obe- 
dience by  the  things  which  he  suffered,  is  regulating  human 
concerns  with  a  view  to  the  good  of  men:  and  who,  duly 
considering  the  infirmities  incident  to  our  condition,  demand, 
nothing  but  that  which  we  can  render?  Is  not  his  govern- 
xent  in  morals  precisely  analogous  to  his  government  in 


04  LECTURES  ON 

physics,  in  which  human  effort  may  be  most  unreservedly 
made,  with  a  confident  dependence  on  divine  providence? 

But  then  are  we  not  dead  in  sin?  Has  not  Adam's  trans- 
gression defrauded  us  of  all  moral  power?  Is  not  this  the 
condition  of  every  man,  until  God  makes  him,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  his  sovereignty,  spiritually  alive  ?  While  a  man  is 
dead,  can  he  be  personally  responsible  ?  If  God  shall  not 
make  him  spiritually  alive,  can  his  perdition  be  referred  to 
his  own  fault?  These  are  the  interesting  questions  which 
an  ao*e,  grown  inquisitive  by  political  emancipation,  is  ear- 
nestly pursuing.  And  theologians  have  their  hands  full. 
Adam's  sin  is  now  the  grand  subject  of  d#bate;  and  parti- 
cularly as  its  consequences  are  to  be  considered  in  refer- 
ence to  human  ability  and  inability.  After  all,  the  ques- 
tion, in  general  terms  is,  whether,  and  how,  each  man  is 
personally  responsible  ?  That  he  is  so,  every  one  is  begin- 
ning to  assert.  Old  systems  will  wither,  and  the  arm  that 
would  uphold  them  will  be  paralyzed.  The  doctrines  of 
personal  responsibility,  and  of  human  liberty,  are  essen- 
tially the  same;  and  as  they  stand  connected,  they  are 
shaking  to  its  centre  every  ecclesiastical  establishment  in 
Christendom.     If  I  tell  not  the  truth,  believe  me  not. 

There  is  another  matter  which,  in  view  of  our  present 
subject,  deserves  very  special  consideration.  In  every 
branch  of  science,  men  are  very  diligently  engaged  in  mak- 
ing improvements.  We  can  turn  to  no  department  of  socie- 
ty where  we  do  not  observe  this  fact,  and  all  the  world  seems 
to  have  been  thrown  into  bustle  by  the  literary  and  philo- 
sophical pretensions  which,  in  every  direction,  are  courting 
public  respect  and  confidence.  I  am  fully  aware  that  those 
who  are  wise  by  hereditary  statute,  have  caricatured  "the 
march  of  mind ;"  and  that  even  ministers*  of  the  gospel  af- 
fect to  be  facetious,  and  try  to  be  severely  satirical,  when 
"the  signs  of  the  times"  are  supposed  to  augur  great  and 
profitable  changes.  But  after  all  abatement  is  made  for  the 
interesting  representations  of  the  influential,  and  the  often- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  25 

'(imes  dogmatic,  leaders  of  public  disputes,  the  change  in 
sentiment  and  feeling  is  imperceptibly,  but  surely,  intro- 
ducing its  grand  climacteric. 

The  character  of  the  change,  which  is  so  visibly  arrang- 
ing  its  important  preliminaries,  after  all,  amounts  merely  to  a 
well  meant  and  determined  attempt  to  simplify  that  which 
before  was  abstruse  and  mysterious.  In  other  words,  men 
are  trying  to  understand  and  explain  every  thing,  ^.s  far  as 
their  intellectual  force  or  their  varied  observation  can  carry 
them.  Even  in  your  schools  a  very  persevering  effort  is 
made,  to  bring  down  the  various  branches  of  education  to 
the  comprehension  of  the  juvenile  mind :  nor  is  the  process 
finished.  In  every  direction  old  theories  are  yielding  to 
new  discoveries,  and  philosophers  are  abandoning  specula- 
lion  in  pursuit  of  facts.  And  shall  all  this  intellectual  ex- 
penditure, various  and  enterprising  as  it  is,  accomplish  noth- 
ing for  the  gospel,  and  bring  no  tribute  to  the  church  ? 

Theologians  very  frequently  treat  a  reputed  opponent 
•quite  cavalierly,  and  very  fiercely,  but  inconsiderately,  re- 
vile him  as  a  heretic.     On  the  present  point  they  may  be  so 
disposed  to  resist  any  application  of  the  preceding  remarks 
to  their  own  science,  and  proudly  tell  us  that  morals  are  al- 
ways the  same.     But  would  they  aver  this  to  be  the  fact, 
in  thus  stating  their  objection?     General  principles  maybe 
much  the  same ;  but  are  not  the  principles  of  physics  as  uni- 
formly the  same  as  those  of  morals  ?     Have  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  altered  their  courses,  or  is  there  any  thing  new  under 
the  sun  ?     Yet  in  relation  to  all  the  different  departments  of 
science,  the  doctrines  of  philosophers  have  changed  again 
and  again ;  and  may  not  those  of  moralists  vary  with  equal 
ease  and  frequency?     Can  we  maintain  so  improbable  an 
idea,  that  because  the  principles  of  the  divine  government 
are  always  essentially  the  same,  therefore  the  opinions  of 
men,  and  even  of  good  men,  are  always  accurate?     Has 
God  himself  never  modified  his  dispensations,  to  meet  any 
particular  state  of  society  ?  Was  there  no  difference  between 
Vol.  I.— 3 


26  LECTURES  ON 

Jewish  ceremonies  and  the  patriarchal  ritual  ?  Does  not  the 
gospel  dispensation  differ  from  both,  and  professedly  pre- 
sume on  an  increased  amount  of  mental  vigor,  as  though 
the  church  had  escaped  from  childhood,  and  attained  to  full 
age  ?  To  say  then,  in  the  present  connection,  that  morals 
are  always  the  same,  is  either  ignorantly  or  sophistically,  to 
get  away  from  the  subject  in  hand. 

But  how  stands  the  fact  ?  Is  there  no  room  for  improvement 
in  the  speculative  opinions  which  men,  and  good  men  too, 
have  promulgated  in  reference  to  religious  principles  ?  Are 
our  theological  systems  so  plain  that  they  cannot  be  simpli- 
fied, or  so  harmonious  that  no  arbitrator  is  required  ?  Will 
any  enlightened  man,  belonging  to  any  of  the  controversial 
parties,  undertake  to  say,  that  in  all  points  he  alone  is  right? 
Are  not  all  the  contending  sects  confessedly  asserting  mys- 
teries ?  And  is  there  no  danger  of  being  in  error,  when  they 
unhesitatingly  admit,  that  in  many  respects,  the  subjects  o,f 
their  speculations  are  above  their  comprehension?  Then 
again  may  not  their  plea  of  mystery  be  the  very  circumstance 
that  betrays  the  necessity  for  investigation? 

What  is  a  mystery  ?  The  general  idea,  if  I  mistake  not, 
is,  that  a  mystery  is  a  certain  something,  in  its  own  nature 
incomprehensible  to  human  reason ;  which  something  is  accor- 
dingly not  to  be  defined.  The  doctrines  concerning  such 
points,  may  always  be  matter  of  debate ;  and  as  no  one  may 
pretend  infallibly  to  decide  what  the  facts  concerning  them 
are,  ought  we  not  to  be  very  cautious  how  we  receive  such 
doctrines  as  articles  of  faith,  and  exceedingly  careful,  to  say 
the  least,  that  they  shall  not  be  too  extensively  multiplied  ? 
Our  eternal  all  is  at  stake;  and  it  is  God's  revelation  on 
which  we  are  required  to  meditate.  Shall  men  rudely  im- 
pose upon  us  their  notions,  telling  us  how  venerable  these 
are  for  their  antiquity,  and  haughtily  demand  our  assent, 
or  superciliously  condemn  our  hesitancy  ?  Do  they  not  feel 
that  their  whole  statement  is  extremely  startling  and  for- 
bidding, when  they  apprise  us  that  Christianity  is  full  of  in- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  -27 

comprehensibilities  ?  Are  there  really  any  incomprehensible 
things  in  the  gospel — might  not  some  humble  inquirer  ask, 
without  giving;  anv  serious  offence  ? 

I  know  very  well  that  I  am  treading  on  dangerous  ground. 
A  thousand  voices  would  instantly  and  tumultuously  reply, 
the  scriptures  themselves  speak  undisguisedly  of  their  own 
mysteries,  and  it  is  in  vain  to  object  to  their  statement.  God 
forbid  that  I  should  utter  one  word  disparaging  to  the  scrip- 
tures ;  or  breathe  the  most  distant  suspicion  of  their  divine 
inspiration,  or  of  their  indubitable  accuracy.  But,  perhaps, 
by  a  mystery  they  do  not  mean  a  certain  something  incom- 
prehensible to  human  reason.  It  is  worth  our  while  to  as- 
certain ;  for  if  they  do  not  so  denominate  that  which  is  in- 
comprehensible, then  the  spell  in  which  our  investigation 
may  be  bound  is  dissolved.  Some  few  quotations,  in  which 
instances  of  their  use  of  the  term  will  be  afforded,  may  de- 
-lennine  this  question  without  any  great  dispute :  take  the 
following: 

"Now  to  him  that  is  of  power  to  establish  you  according 
to  my  gospel,  and  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  according 
to  the  revelation  of  the  mystery,  which  was  kept  secret  since 
the  world  began,  but  now  is  made  manifest,  and  by  the 
scriptures  of  the  prophets,  according  to  the  commandment 
of  the  everlasting  God5  made  known  to  all  nations  for  the 
obedience  of  faith."* 

"But  we  speak  the  wisdom  of  God  in  a  mystery,  even  the 
hidden  wisdom  which  God  ordained  before  the  world  unto 
our  glory;  which  none  of  the  princes  of  this  world  knew: 
but  God  hath  revealed  them  unto  us  by  his  Spirit,  for  the 
.Spirit  searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God."t 

"Having  made  known  to  us  the  mystery  of  his  will,  accord- 
ing to  his  good  pleasure,  which  he  hath  purposed  in  himself."  X 

1 '  By  revelation  he  made  known  unto  me  the  mystery,  as  I 
wrote  afore  in  few  words ;  whereby  when  ye  read,  ye  may 

*Rom.  xvi.  2-5,  26.          f  1  Cor.  ii.  7,  8,  10.         X  Eph.  i.  9. 


28  LECTURES  ON 

understand  my  knowledge  in  the  mystery  of  Christ,  which  in 
other  ages  was  not  made  known  untdthe  sons  of  men."  * 

So  then  mystery  is  a  mere  secret,  which  may  be  made 
known,  made  manifest,  revealed  or  uncovered. 

In  like  manner  the  term  is  applied  to  human  projects: 
"The  mystery  of  iniquity  doth  already  work."  t  It  is  also 
used  in  reference  to  a  rite  or  ceremony,  or  emblem:  "The 
mystery  of  the  seven  stars." X  "I  will  tell  thee  the  mystery 
of  the  woman  and  of  the  beast  that  carrieth  her."  §  Among 
the  heathen  also,  we  hear  of  the  various  mysteries  of  their 
false  gods.  Early  ecclesiastical  writers  used  the  word  with 
the  same  signification ;  and  it  may  be  found  in  the  commu- 
nion service  of  the  church  of  England  in  the  same  accepta- 
tion, and  in  reference  to  the  Lord's  supper. 

The  term,  therefore,  in  its  scriptural  use,  is  employed  as 
an  appellative  of  a  mere  secret  which  may  not  be,  for  a 
time,  fully  disclosed;  and  the  advocate  of  incomprehensible 
things  in  religion  must  find  out  some  other  argument  to  jus- 
tify his  view.  Christianity,  as  it  is  exhibited  in  the  new  dis- 
pensation, instead  of  being  full  of  mysteries,  is  intended  to 
do  them  away,  and  to  bring  out  to  light,  that  which  had 
been  long  hidden  or  kept  secret.  Supposing  then,  that  the 
popular  systems  of  theology  not  only  assert  that  there  are, 
but  actually  teach  to  us,  inconceivable  things,  and  tell  us 
that  these  matters  are  the  peculiarities  of  the  gospel,  is  there 
no  room  for  improvement?  Ought  we  still  to  maintain  mys- 
teries if  the  scriptures  disown  them?  Or  shall  we  adhere  to 
matters  which  are  incomprehensible  in  their  own  nature  as  in- 
dubitable verities,  because  that  in  any  particular  period  of  so- 
ciety, or  in  any  given  state  of  physical  or  moral  science, 
they  may  not  be  explained  ? 

But  how  has  it  happened  that  the  term,  and  the  thing  of 
which  the  term  is  a  sign,  have  been  so  often,  and  so  much, 
misapplied  ?  How  is  it  that  so  generally  among  the  clergy  and- 

*Eph.  iii.  4,  5.     f2  Thess.  ii.  7.     %  Rev.  i.  20.     §Rev.  xvii.  7. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  29 

the  pious,  to  say  a  word  against  mysterious  doctrines  is  to  be 
chargeable  with  extreme  heresy,  if  not  with  infidelity 
itself?  One  great  reason  unquestionably  is  their  advancing 
and  maintaining  various  dogmas,  which  they  themselves 
cannot  explain.  But  I  apprehend  the  cause  lies  much 
deeper,  and  is  to  be  traced  far  back  in  the  history  of  our 
race.  The  gloomy  legends  which  are  opened  up  to  view 
by  an  allusion  to  preceding  ages,  many  are  apt  to  resolve 
into  one  universal,  all  pervading  cause — human  depravity. 
It  would  be  folly  in  the  highest  degree  not  to  admit  the  ex- 
istence and  the  potency  of  the  reason  so  promptly  assigned. 
But  an  inquisitive  mind  asks  for  an  explanation  which  will 
not  be  so  general.  There  is  a  necessity  to  be  more  particu- 
lar, and  to  look  after  the  minuter  operations  of  secondary 
agents. 

We  are  told  that  there  were  mysteries  from  the  begin- 
ning ;  or  things  which  were  kept  secret  since  the  world  be- 
gan. Starting  at  a  point  so  very  remote,  we  must  follow 
society  down,  as  it  begins  to  extend  and  ramify  itself.  We 
may,  perhaps,  thus  discover  the  object  of  our  search.  At 
first,  all  the  various  powers  of  government,  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical, so  to  speak,  were  vested  in  the  same  individual. 
The  prince  was  the  priest,  and  the  priest  was  the  prince. 
This  political  arrangement  would  not  only  be  established 
by  a  divine  ordinance,  but  resulted  from  the  nature  of  the 
case.  Adam  would  be  naturally  looked  up  to  as  fairly  en- 
titled to  all  official  honors,  and  his  eldest  son  would  as  readi- 
ly be  acknowledged  as  his  official  heir.  That  particular  asso- 
ciation which  is  now  called  the  church,  did  not  arise  until 
lonsr  after,  when  a  double  trial  had  been  made  of  the  effi- 
ciency  of  the  original  system  that  had  placed  the  priest  on 
the  throne,  ot  called  the  occupant  of  the  throne  to  act  as 
priest.  This  earlier  institution,  as  long  as  it  lasted,  served 
to  typify  the  official  prerogatives  of  the  promised  Mediator, 
who  is  now  a  priest  upon  his  throne.  All  government  was 
at  that  time  to  have  been  exercised  on  mediatorial  princi- 


30  LECTURES  ON 

jjles; — a  fact  which  you  may  keep  in  mind,  as  it  has  an  inv 
portant  bearing  on  the  question,  whether  Christ  died  for  all 
men  or  not;  and  decides  the  point  whether  the  heathen 
are  under  mediatorial  law  or  not.  Civil  government,  as  it 
was  established  after  the  fall,  was  intended  to  wear  an  evan- 
gelic character;  so  that  all  mankind  were,  and  are,  placed 
as  much  under  the  mediatorial  institute,  as  they  had  been 
under  the  original  law. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  trace  society  in  the  subsequent  de- 
velopment and  changes  which  it  exhibits;  to  notice  the 
union  of  church  and  state  under  the  Jewish  theocracy ;  the 
disruption  of  that  union  under  the  christian  system ;  its  re- 
establishment  under  Constantine;  its  continuance  to  the 
present  hour,  notwithstanding  that  nations  have  wept  and 
bled  under  its  blighting  influence ;  nor  to  anticipate  the  pro- 
bable state  of  affairs  during  the  millennium,  when  they  may 
revert  to  their  primordial  simplicity,  and  when  every  trace 
of  official  misrule  may  be  obliterated  from  our  distracted 
world.  Enough  has  been  done  to  obtain  a  position  from 
which  to  look  after  the  matter  of  inquiry. 

In  the  state  of  society  which  has  been  described,  it  must 
be  evident  to  every  one,  that  official  men  were  apparently 
entrusted  with  a  great  deal  of  power.  The  exercise  of 
power  is  as  liable  to  corruption,  as  any  other  attribute  belong- 
ing to  man.  A  restless  ambition  would  very  soon  begin  to 
excogitate  schemes  of  aggrandizement,  and  be  dissatisfied 
with  any  eminence  short  of  absolute  authority.  The  plan 
of  operation  would  be  covert,  and  its  progress  insidious,  as 
mankind  would  not  readily  surrender  their  liberties.  Every 
plausible  mean,  every  ingenious  artifice,  every  sophistical 
argument  would  be  pertinaciously  employed,  in  order  to  al- 
lay suspicion,  and  to  secure  the  object.  The  prince,  under 
such  circumstances,  and  with  such  designs,  would  not  fail 
to  use  his  sacred  functions,  well  knowing  the  regard  which 
men  have  for  the  holy  things  of  the  Lord,  and  the  excite- 
ment into  which  they  are  easily  thrown  by  the  seeming  in- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  31 

terference  of  supernatural  agents.  The  very  moment  that 
religion  degenerates  into  superstition,  the  multitude,  by  ex- 
changing intelligence  for  ignorance,  and  becoming  credu- 
lous instead  of  thoughtful,  are  prepared  for  political  slavery. 
And  so,  on  the  other  hand,  as  soon  as  they  break  their  po- 
litical fetters  and  learn  to  think,  superstition  flies,  and  a  pure 
and  undefiled  religion  may  quickly  interest  their  feelings 
and  absorb  their  souls.  Under  such  a  revolution,  "a  nation 
might  be  born  in  a  day." 

Laying  hold  of  these  peculiarities  of  our  nature,  which  a 
mere  politician  often  profoundly  studies,  the  prince,  in  his 
march  after  power,  soon  learns  to  conquer  the  human  mind, 
by  appealing  to  its  fears.  A  series  of  mysteries  preserved 
with  sybilline  care,  and  generating  a  set  of  popular  mystic 
notions,  would  be  one  of  his  happiest  and  most  effectual 
expedients.  The  glory  of  the  Lord  would  be  changed  into 
the  most  degenerate  representations  ;  the  inner  man  would 
become  reprobate ;  and  a  spiritual  death,  so  often  ascribed  to 
Adam's  sin  as  its  single  and  omnipotent  cause,  would  super- 
vene. Every  plan  would  then  be  accomplished  which  the 
despotic  ruler  had  devised,  and  infatuated  nations  would 
preserve  the  very  mysticism  which  defrauded  them  of  in- 
tellectual resources,  and  converted  them  -into  serfs,  and 
transmit  it  to  their  children.  Such  I  take  to  be  the  origin 
of  the  false  ideas  of  mystery  that  are  abroad  in  the  world, 
and  by  which  a  sacred  and  accurate  term  has  been  grossly 
misapplied.  * 

I  would  not  be  understood  to  say,  that,  comparatively 
speaking,  while  we  are  in  this  world,  and  are  living  by  faith. 
we  do  not  "see  through  a  glass  darkly,"  nor  yet  that  there 

*  Bishop  Warburton,  in  his  Div.  Leg.  of  Moses,  B.  II.  S.  4.  -ha3 
handled  this  suhject  with  great  learning.  The  reader  may  there  dis- 
cover how  much  of  pagan  superstition  has  been  incorporated  in  the 
papal  system,  Whence  protestants  have  derived  so  many  of  their  no- 
tions. It  was  death  to  intrude  into  "  the  mysteries*?'  How  much 
better  is  it  now  J 


3-2  LECTURES  ON 

are  no  matters  hard  to  be  understood  in  the  sacred  volume, 
where,  as  Lactantius  elegantly  remarked,  "an  elephant 
may  swim,  while  a  lamb  may  wade."  The  point  is  here  : 
if  one  man  or  one  age — if  many  men  or  many  ages,  be  in- 
competent to  explain  a  certain  truth,  is  that  truth  therefore,  in 
its  own  nature,  incomprehensible  to  the  human  mind?  And 
if  we  are  only  emerging  from  a  long  period  of  darkness,  in 
which  kings  reigned  with  unquestioned  supremacy,  and  mon- 
archies as  such  were  reputed  to  be  of  divine  right ;  a  period  in 
which  councils  determined  articles  of  faith,  and  popes 
ruled  in  the  temple  of  God  as  the  vicegerents  of  "the  mes- 
senger of  the  covenant:"  are  those  matters,  which  could 
not  then  be  satisfactorily  explained,  now  to  be  viewed  as 
beyond  our  mental  grasp?  Does  it  follow  that  what  Calvin 
and  Luther  did  not  understand,  no.one  else  can  elucidate? 
Or,  in  the  multifarious  effort  which  human  intellect,  free 
and  independent,  is  now  putting  forth,  are  no  discoveries  to 
be  made,  no  new  combinations  to  be  devised,  no  secrets  to 
be  told  ?  If  the  theologian  has  risen  to  no  higher  moral  ele- 
vation than  this,  it  is  no  wonder  that  he  feels  his  imbecility 
to  control  the  commotions  around  him ;  and  pitifully  sighs 
over  the  disasters  which  fill  his  views  by  day  and  his  visions 
by  night.  Better  that  the  church  had  been  supplied  with 
ministers  fresh  from  the  circle  of  her  own  families,  than 
from  theological  seminaries,  which  thus  prove  themselves 
to  be  but  splendid  deceptions. 

Are  not  "many  running  to  and  fro,  seeking  after  know- 
ledge?" Is  not  intelligence  everywhere  diffusing  itself? 
Have  not  men  been  long  discussing  human  responsibilities 
on  broad,  general  principles?  I  ask  not  whether  any  men 
are  now  more  learned  than  their  predecessors,  or  have  read 
and  written  more  books?  but  whether  the -mass  of  mankind 
are  not  acquiring  a  new  intellectual  character  ?  Children  ask 
their  parents,  who  never  thought  beyond  the  range  of  their 
oatechism,  many  appropriate  questions  which  they  cannot 
answer.     And  men,  who  are  but  larger  children,  looking 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT,  .33 

on  the  world  around  them,  may  propose  to  their  ministers, 
who  never  travelled  out  of  the  periphery  of  their  own  sec- 
tarian system,  many  questions  which  the  word  mystery  will 
no  longer  answer.  The  inquirer  is  not  satisfied,  and  will 
not  submit  to  rebuke.  Whatever  may  be  the  final  issue, 
such  is  the  present  condition  of  society.  Inquiry  is  ad- 
vancing; is  growing  importunate  and  intrepid,  bold  and  ad- 
venturous ;  and  they  who  mean  to  meet  the  approaching 
crisis,  and  to  save  the  world  from  the  delirious  misrule  of 
infidelity,  must  quit  their  creeds  and  turn  to  their  bibles. 
If  they  will  not,  they  may  calculate  on  consequences  which 
will  prove  these  present  days  to  be  "but  the  beginning  of 
sorrows."" 

We  are  informed  by  the  Spirit  of  prophecy  that  a  day  of 
great  glory  is  to  dawn  upon  our  world..  That  day  cannot  be 
far  distant.  A  time  of  tribulation  may,  and  in  all  probability 
will,  intervene ;  but  ' '  the  coming  of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh.' 3 
Is  there  any  preparation  to  be  made  for  his  appearance? 
Will  he  do  all  by  his  own  fearful  judgments,  or  have  we  a 
part  to  act?  Do  any  imagine,  that  the  church  shall  remain 
as  she  now  is, — broken  up  into  parties,  and  distracted  by  in- 
cessant hostilities  ?  Shall  not  these  sects  be  dissolved,  and 
some  other  ecclesiastical  ground  be  marked  out,  where 
brethren  can  meet  in  unity,  and  where  the  divine  blessing 
shall  come  down  like  the  dew  on  Hermon  ?  Are  not  the 
various  parties  heaving  painfully,  as  though  corroded  by  some 
mortal  disease?  The  "power  of  life  and  death"  has  been 
taken  away ;  and  the  reputation  of  many  a  maltreated  son 
of  truth  is  given  up  to  be  adjudicated  by  the  world,  which, 
like  Pilot,  ignorant  of,  and  unconcerned  about,  the  techni- 
calities of  sectarian  law,  can  find  no  fault.  Society  at  large 
is  acquiring  more  liberal  and  benevolent  feelings,  and  cares 
very  little  about  the  distinctions  which  were  forged  in  the 
Master's  name  by  the  false  philosophy  of  past  ages.  And 
what  the  immediate  result  may  be,  depends  very  much  upon 
the  official  bearing  of  ministerial  men  and  ecclesiastical 


34  LECTURES  ON 

courts.  Their  haughty  mien,  their  demand  for  punctilious 
conformity,  and  their  unrelenting  animosities,  will  only  in- 
crease the  difficulties  and  deepen  the  gloom.  The  high 
concerns  of  Christ's  house,  and  the  destinies  of  immortal 
souls  must  not  rest  on  the  will  of  well  disciplined  partisans, 
or  the  majority  of  votes  in  an  ecclesiastical  legislature.  The 
day  for  such  measures  is  gone  by.  A  new  era  has  com- 
menced. It  started  well ;  for  benevolence  was  its  impulse, 
and  the  dissemination  of  truth  was  its  object.  But  how  has 
the  scene  changed  !  These  very  benevolent  institutions,  ap- 
pearing as  purely  voluntary,  have  become  apples  of  discord  ; 
and  every  heart  that  has  preserved  its  kind  feelings,  or  beats 
with  fraternal  love  for  dying  men,  is  mourning  at  the  altars 
of  the  Lord,  and  is  sickened  by  the  strife. 

But  if  such  a  day  as  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  has  predicted 
is  really  coming ;  if  the  time  is  at  hand,  and  if  a  moral  re- 
volution is  shortly  to  extend  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  to 
earth's  utmost  bounds,  how  could  it  be  otherwise  than  that 
mankind  should  be  greatly  excited  ?  Must  not  old  institu- 
tions give  place  to  those  which  a  new  ecclesiastical  regency 
may  establish  ?  What  else  can  any  man,  who  has  not  given 
himself  up  to  the  sensualities  of  the  scene  around  him,  ex- 
pect ?  What  else  can  any  man,  but  the  lover  of  obsolete 
ordinances,  or  the  child  of  mere  animal  feeling,  desire  ? 
What  else  can  a  minister,  who  is  not  too  superannuated  to 
admire  the  energy  of  his  children,  or  too  juvenile  to  under- 
stand the  value  of  official  influence,  or  too  confident  to  suf- 
fer even  the  Lord  to  work  according  to  his  good  pleasure, 
anticipate  ?  Have  we  never  read  the  story  of  the  antedilu- 
vian world,  the  discomfiture  of  Pharaoh's  host,  or  the  tale 
of  Jerusalem's  destruction  ?  I  protest  to  you,  that  I  see  not 
how  the  millennium  can  come,  without  such  earthly  doings 
as  those  which  are  now  surprising  the  world.  That  they 
are  begun  and  are  in  progress,  only  confirms  my  confidence 
in  the  elder  brother,  who,  sitting  as  Lord  on  the  throne  of 
glory,  presides  over  the  perplexing,  but  purifying  process 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  35 

which  his  Spirit  foretold.  The  immediate  consequences,  I 
confess,  are  deeply  troubling ;  for  society  seems  to  be  dis- 
solving, and  it  is  no  wonder  that  "men's  hearts  are  failing 
them  for  fear." 

The  foregoing,  and  such  like  views  ever  present  them- 
selves, when,  according  to  the  ability  which  the  Lord  hath 
given  me,  I  endeavor  to  read  society.  They  have  driven 
me  to  examine  the  scriptures  for  myself.  The  result  of  the 
investigation  shall  be  presented  to  you  in  the  following 
course  of  lectures.  I  approach  you  with  no  authoritative 
creed,  but  offer  to  your  judgment  trains  of  thought  which 
have  deeply  interested  myself.  You  are  responsible  for 
yourselves.  You  have  the  bible  in  your  own  hands  ;  you 
have  the  intellectual  spirit  which  God  has  given  you  ;  you 
are  surrounded  by  the  various  evolutions  of  the  times  ;  and 
you  must  carefully  and  conscientiously  decide.  Be  not  in- 
timidated by  the  outcry  of  those  who  never  ventured  beyond 
the  narrow  articles  of  their  party  confederation,  and  per- 
haps can  scarcely  tell  you  even  what  is  in  them.  Search, 
on  your  own  responsibility,  for  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ.  I 
ask  you  to  attend  to  no  speculations  which  rob  your  Master 
of  his  divinity ;  or  predicate  a  dignity  of  human  nature  in- 
consistent with  the  indispensable  necessity  for  a  Mediator, 
and  the  gracious  operations  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  I  have  no 
s}rmpathies  with  Arian  speculations,  nor  Socinian  criticism. 
My  simple  object  is  to  declare  truth  as  I  have  learned  it : 
and  all  that  I  ask  at  your  hands  is  magnanimity  enough  to 
listen  to  it.  And  if,  under  the  hysterical  excitement  neces- 
sarily incident  to  a  community  full  of  morbid  sensibilities, 
this  cannot  be  awarded,  I  must  leave  you  to  the  high  judg- 
ment of  conscience ;  and  with  him  to  whom  we  must  all 
give  account,  when  sectarian  considerations  will  be  of  no 
avail. 


36  LECTURES  ON 

LECTURE  II. 


Of  God. — Reason  and  nature  of  the  divine  manifestations — » 
Elohim — ■-  Trinity —  Sabellidnism — Arianism — Hilary  and 
Augustin — Mosaic  dispensation — Moses  and  Paul  com- 
pared, in  view  of  the  manner  in  which  they  speak  of  God 
— Redeemer's  explanation  of  Elohim — Propriety  of  the 
term. 

Moses  has  commenced  his  brief  sketch  of  the  early  an- 
nals of  our  race,  by  asserting  that  "in  the  beginning  God 
made  the  heavens  and  the  earth  :"  at  least,  our  translators 
have  so  rendered  his  language.  To  me,  this  declaration 
appears  as  a  mere  truism,  a  self-evident  fact,  which  no  man 
of  common  intellectual  discernment  would  question.  Some 
indeed,  have  affected  to  deny  the  existence  of  God  ;  or 
have  talked  about  the  eternity  of  matter,  as  though  they 
really  understood  what  they  said,  or  whereof  they  affirmed. 
But  then  the  scriptures  have  remarked,  that  only  "the  fool 
hath  said  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God."  The  apparently 
abstract  proposition,  which  shows  itself  on  the  face  of  the 
text,  would  then  seem  to  be  uttered  with  a  degree  of  for- 
mality altogether  unnecessary.  Perhaps  it  may  not  be  so ; 
and  my  observation  may  be  censured  as,  to  say  the  least  of 
it,  a  piece  of  mere  fastidious  criticism.  The  sequel  will 
evince  whether  the  preceding  comment  is  accurate  or  not ; 
and  whether,  in  the  discussion  on  which  we  are  entering, 
it  has  any  importance. 

Certain  it  is,  that  theologians  have  considered  the  naked 
proposition,  as  given  by  our  translators,  to  be  abundantly 
plain,  and  have  confidently  built  upon  it  their  numerous 
and  conflicting  systems.  Having  presented  it  to  their  pu- 
pils or  readers,  they  immediately  proceed  to  discourse  about 
God,  as  though  the  subject  of  which  they  treat  were  really 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  37 

within  their  reach.  How  many  beautiful  and  elaborate  es- 
says, detailing  and  illustrating  the  divine  perfections,  have 
appeared,  awakening  public  interest  and  commanding  pub- 
lic admiration.  The  human  mind  has  thus  been  absorbed, 
and  has  wasted  all  its  energies  in  contemplating  a  mere  ab- 
straction. Omnipotence,  omniscience,  omnipresence,  in* 
finity  in  every  direction,  our  moralists  have  labored  to  de- 
lineate, when  they  would  speak  of  their  glorious  Creator. 
They  have  confessed  the  subject  to  be  incomprehensible, 
and  seem  to  have  thought  that  they  have  done  enough  to 
satisfy  any  modest  inquirer,  when  they  have  stated  in  gran- 
diloquous  phrase,  that  which  they  did  not  understand.  They 
have  thrown  us  to  the  circumference  of  a  circle,  and  left  us 
to  pace  an  eternal  round. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  whether  it  is  intended  to  deny,  that 
omniscience,  omnipotence,  and  omnipresence,  do  belong  to 
God  ?  Certainly  not.  But  I  do  intend  to  ask,  what  these 
terms  mean  ?  Explain  to  me,  for  example,  what  omniscience 
is.  It  imports,  some  one  may  reply,  the  knowledge  of  all 
things.  But  then  again,  the  question  may  be  pressed,  what 
are  we  to  understand  by  all  things  ?  And  an  answer, 
statins;  all  that  theologians  have  labored  to  conceive  and  to 
express,  may  not  be  so  easily  framed.  If  indeed  I  should 
be  referred  to  the  heavens  and  the  earth  as  the  works  of 
God,  as  we  are  told  by  Moses,  that — "in  the  beginning 
God  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth"  there  would  be  no 
difficulty  in  comprehending  omniscience,  or  any  of  the 
terms  which  have  been  employed,  or  their  application.  For 
we  can  easily  form  our  ideas  of  Jehovah  and  his  attributes, 
by  what  we  know,  or  by  the  objects  which  are  within  the 
range  of  our  perceptions,  and  by  which  he  intended  to 
teach  us  of  himself. 

But  have  our  theologians  been  contented  with  this  dis- 

play  ?     Have  they  not  stretched  their  imagination  far,  very 

far,  beyond  these  limits  ;    and,  carrying  us  out  of  our  own 

world,  begun  to  descant  upon  illimitable  space,  and  the  in- 

Vol.  I.— 4 


38  LECTURES  ON 

finite  God  filling  illimitable  space  ?  And  what  do  you  know 
now  ?  You  have  sought  to  rise  to  the  contemplation  of  ob- 
jects beyond  mortal  ken,  and  are  presuming  to  traverse  re- 
gions where  the  great  Creator   has  furnished  no   guide. 
Worlds  there  may  be,  systems  of  worlds  there  may  be, 
spreading  themselves  out  in  infinite  space,  or  revolving 
round  the  throne  of  God  as  their  eternal  sun ;  but  the  ques- 
tion is,  what  do  we  know  about  them  ?     Who  can  tell  what 
God  is  doing  in  them,  or  among  them,  or  describe  in  what 
manner  he  has  revealed  or  manifested  himself  unto  them  ? 
Yet,  ignorant  as  we  are,  these  are  the  fields  in  which  we 
have  been  speculating  about  Godhead.     Here  we  suppose 
ourselves   to  have  studied  the  divine  character  with  the 
greatest  accuracy ;  and  on  abstractions  of  which  we   have 
in  vain  endeavored  to  form  some  intelligent  notions,  we 
have  erected  our  various  systems.     We  cannot  be  satisfied 
with  discoursing  about  omniscience,  omnipotence  or  omni- 
presence, as  these  relate  to  the  world  with  which  we  are 
connected ;    but,   attaching  to  the  momentous  subject  of 
God's  moral  government  all  our  own  conjectures,  and  bas- 
ing our  theories  on  the   abstract  perfections  we  ascribe  to 
him,  we  have  made  religion  a  mere  tissue  of  most  perplex- 
ing mysteries.     Hence  our  continual  controversies,  that  in- 
volve almost  every  moral  principle  about  which  the  mind 
of  man  can  be  employed,  and  that  even  now  seem  to  be  no 
nearer  their  termination  than  when  they  first  commenced. 
To  me  it  appears   abundantly  plain,   that  here,  where 
Moses  commences  his  account,  in  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  or  those  hosts  of  created  objects  of  which  the  human 
mind  can  take  cognizance,  we  necessarily  find  our  limit. 
Beyond  these  we  cannot  go.     Any  attempt  which  may  be 
made,  is  a  wasteful  expenditure  of  intellect,  and  must  end 
in  fruitless  conjecture.     Doubtless  there  is  a  great  deal  be- 
yond these  limits ;  but  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  attain  to  that 
which  has  not  been  brought  within  our  own  mental  range. 
Even  our  own  future  state  of  being  is  above  our  compre- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  39 

hension,  and  is  so  represented  to  us  in  the  scriptures  them- 
selves. Paul  informs  us,  that  when  he  was  caught  up  into 
the  third  heavens,  he  "heard  unspeakable  words,  which  it 
is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter."  And  John  says,  "it  doth 
not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  but  we  know  that  when 
he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him 
as  he  is."  Of  course,  if  we  are  not  fitted  to  know,  to  see 
or  to  hear,  things  which  are  unrepresented  in  this  material 
system  with  which  our  existence  is  connected  for  the  time 
being,  we  must  form  our  ideas  of  God  from  those  views  he 
has  afforded  of  himself,  and  must  speak  of  his  attributes  as 
he  has  manifested  them.  Whatever  is  beyond  this  world 
is  mystery,  i.  e.  is  a  secret  to  us. 

It  belongs  not  to  man  to  perceive  spirit  abstractedly  con- 
sidered. We  cannot  perceive  or  know  each  other's  spirit, 
excepting  as  it  is  exhibited  in  its  appropriate  form,  or  by 
some  external  act.  And  as  God  is  a  spirit, — so  said  Jesus 
to  the  Samaritan  woman, — we  cannot  know  him,  unless  he 
shall  manifest  himself  by  and  in  his  works,  or  shall  assume 
personal  form.  The  necessity  under  which  we  are  thus 
placed  is  found  in  the  very  constitution  of  our  nature,  and 
must  exist  so  long  as  it  shall  be  characteristic  of  us  to  ac- 
quire our  ideas  by  means  of  our  corporeal  senses.  The  di- 
vinity of  Jesus  Christ,  to  use  popular  language,  is  not  so 
irrational  a  doctrine,  nor  is  it  so  destitute  of  evidence  to  be 
derived  from  the  nature  of  things,  and  from  the  nature  of 
man,  as  some  have  confidently  pretended.  The  real  truth 
is,  that  it  is  founded  in  the  nature  of  things,  and  in  the  na- 
ture of  man,  and  therefore  the  scriptures  have  taught  it. 
And  those  who  have  defended  this  doctrine,  have,  I  think, 
essentially  weakened  their  own  argument,  by  basing  it  sim- 
ply on  the  sovereignty  of  Jehovah. 

It  is  necessary  to  pursue  this  topic  a  little  farther.  How 
can  any  man  explain  to  me  wisdom,  goodness  and  power, 
as  attributes  of  God  ?  Of  abstract  qualities  the  human  mind 
can  form  no  idea,  whether  they  are  predicated  of  God,  of 


40  LECTURES  ON 

man,  or  of  any  creature.  The  scriptures  certainly  occupy 
this  ground  in  undertaking  to  teach  us  of  God.  "The  hea- 
vens," they  say,  "declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firma- 
ment showeth  his  handy  work.  Day  unto  day  uttereth 
speech,  and  night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge.  They 
have  no  speech — no  language — their  voice  is  not  heard, 
nevertheless  their  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth,  and 
their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world."*  "That  which  may 
be  known  of  God  is  manifiest  in,  or  among  them,  for  God 
hath  showed  it  unto  them.  For  the  invisible  things  of  him 
from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  un- 
derstood by  the  things  that  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power 
and  Godhead,  so  that  they  are  without  excuse."!  "He 
left  not  himself  without  a  witness,  in  that  he  did  good,  and 
gave  us  rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our 
hearts  with  food  and  gladness. "t  Take  away  these  out- 
ward exhibitions  of  Jehovah,  in  which  he  has,  says  Paul, 
manifested  that  which  may  be  known  of  him,  and  what  phi- 
losopher can  give  us  any  idea  of  God  ?  or  explain  what  is 
meant  by  his  wisdom,  goodness  or  power?  Undoubtedly 
there  may  be  a  God,  good,  wise  and  powerful ;  and  he  may 
be  known,  loved  and  admired  by  other  intellectual  beings 
differently  constituted  from  ourselves ;  but  we  can  have  no 
perceptions  of  him.  A  blind  man  knows  nothing  of  color 
— a  deaf  man  is  utterly  ignorant  of  sound.  In  like  man- 
ner we  must  be  entirely  unacquainted  with  the  existence  or 
character  of  God,  unless  he  be  manifested  to  us,  and  in  a 
mode  suitable  to  our  nature.  No  reasonable  controvertist 
will  deny  this.  The  only  alternative  is  blank  atheism  :  a 
doctrine  in  maintaining  which,  any  man,  even  the  veriest 
heathen,  Paul  tells  us,  would  be  perfectly  inexcusable. 

If  the  preceding  argument  shall  be  admitted  as  conclu- 
sive, then  the  principle  of  a  divine  manifestation,  i.  e.  of 
God's  manifesting  himself  to  man,  is  conceded.     The  neces- 

*Ps.  xix.  1.  4.  fRom.  i.  19,  20.        %    Acts  xiv.  17. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  41 

sity  for  such  a  manifestation  is  also  traced,  and  with  equal 
clearness  and  certainty,  to  the  constitution  of  human  na- 
ture. And  if  the  principle,  so  far  as  it  has  been  carried,  or 
in  its  application  to  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  be  correct, 
why  may  it  not  be  equally  true,  if  its  application  shall  be 
extended  ?  The  test  in  this  extended  application  of  the 
principle,  will  be  the  same  as  in  its  original  application : 
i.  e.  if  the  manifestation  which  God  made  of  himself  in  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  be  rational  and  necessary,  consider- 
ing the  peculiarity  of  the  human  constitution,  then  a  further 
manifestation  of  him  will  be  equally  rational  and  necessa- 
ry, if  the  peculiarity  of  human  nature  shall  call  for  it.  On 
this  simple  view  of  the  character  of  man,  or  of  the  necessi- 
ty arising  from  the  constitution  of  his  nature,  must  rest  the 
whole  reason  for  the  fact,  and  the  doctrine,  of  the  divini- 
ty of  the  Saviour.  "Such  an  high  priest  became  us" — "in 
all  things  it  behooved  him  to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren, 
that  he  might  be  a  merciful  and  faithful  high  priest." 

God  having  manifested  himself  to  us  by  the  works  of 
creation  and  providence,  and  that  manifestation  being  made 
in  such  a  manner  as  is  suited  to  our  mind  in  its  present 
mode  of  subsistence,  is  there  no  necessity  that  the  Crea- 
tor should  proceed  farther?  Can  we  now  be  satisfied, 
or  will  we  not  pursue  our  inquiries  ?  Is  it  unnatural  or  ir- 
rational to  seek  after  personal  intercourse,  or  communion, 
with  that  being  whose  works  have  introduced  him  to  our 
acquaintance  ?  Is  it  unphilosophic  to  suppose  that  God 
would  make  such  an  arrangement  as  to  render  it  possible 
for  us  to  have  a  nearer  and  more  spiritual  view  of  him  ?  If 
he  should  do  so,  would  it  not  be  very  desirable  to  us  ? 
And  would  not  any  intellectual  communication  which  he 
might  make  be  highly  advantageous?  We  are  not  go- 
verned by  mere  instincts.  Endowed  with  immortal  spi- 
rits, which  must  ultimately  return  to  God  who  gave  them, 
we  are  formed  to  reflect  and  reason  ;  and,  carrying  our  in- 
vestigation as  far  at  least  as  our  own  nature  affords  mate- 
4* 


42  LECTURES  ON 

rials  of  thought,  we  pause  on  the  connexions  between  mat- 
ter and  spirit,  as  the  loftiest  subjects  which  can  interest  us. 
The  laws  of  mere  physical  substances,  however  useful  or 
important  in  their  own  places,  do  not  limit  our  intellectual 
view.  Going  beyond  these,  we  are  found  to  commune  with 
persons.  Having  a  personal  subsistence,  our  best  associa- 
tions are  necessarily  with  those  who  subsist  in  a  like  man- 
ner. We  could  not  have  any  very  high  or  appropriate  en- 
joyments, if  we  were  surrounded  by  the  lower  orders  of 
creatures,  and  had  no  companionship  with  beings  of  equal 
powers,  and  like  affections.  Adam  in  paradise  needed  a 
companion.  His  Creator  said — "it  is  not  good  that  the 
man  should  be  alone."  If  then  we  had  no  higher  mani- 
festation of  Jehovah  than  that  afforded  by  the  substances 
belonging  to  the  material  universe,  it  is  evident  that  he 
would  not  have  employed  the  best  symbol,  nor  furnished 
an  exhibition  of  himself  equal  to  our  intellectual  appre- 
hensions. 

Of  personal  subsistence  we  have  well  denned  ideas;  and 
if  that  were  not  predicated  of  Jehovah,  our  communion 
with  him  must  be  of  the  lowest  description.  We  would 
either  become  atheistical,  or,  in  spite  of  ourselves,  rushing 
into  personification,  we  should  locate  the  dwelling  of  the 
great  Spirit  in  the  sun — the  moon — a  star — a  man — an  ani- 
mal— a  vegetable.  Our  safest  refuge,  our  most  refined 
ideas,  would,  in  those  circumstances,  be  found  in  anthro- 
pomorphism ;  for  what  higher  notions  of  personal  subsis- 
tence, or  of  its  attributes,  could  we  have  than  those  deri- 
ved from  ourselves  ?  There  is  no  intermediate  order  of  in- 
telligences, with  whom  we  have  any  familiar  intercourse, 
whose  standard  of  living,  or  modes  of  operations,  could 
originate  in  our  minds  any  better  speculation.  And  the 
scriptures,  whenever  they  introduce  such  classes  of  beings 
to  our  notice,  always  clothe  them  with  personal  forms. 
Nor  only  so;  but  we  are  emphatically  told,  that  man  was 
made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God.     There  must  there- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  43 

fore  be  a  personal  manifestation  of  God ;  and  the  term  per- 
son— of  which  more  hereafter* — the  term  person,  of  which, 
in  its  application  to  deity,  theologians  tell  us  they  can  form 
no  accurate  idea,  must  have  in  that  application  the  same 
import  that  it  has  every  where  else  ;  or  the  science  of  the- 
ology would  sink  as  much  below,  as  mere  abstractions  rise 
above,  our  intellectual  level. 

How  stands  the  fact  as  reported  by  the  laborious  histo- 
rian ?  Have  not  men  been  continually  employed  and  agi- 
tated by  inquiries  about  God— his  nature — his  subsistence  ? 
Has  there  ever  been  a  nation  without  her  Gods  ?  It  will 
not  avail  to  refer  all  this  to  priestcraft ;  for  whence  was 
priestcraft  derived  ?  How  did  it  happen  that  this  abused 
and  despised  system  of  political  sophistry  should  have  fur- 
nished the  lofty  conceptions  of  God  and  of  eternity  ?  con- 
ceptions with  which  the  philosopher's  ideas  of  chance  and 
annihilation  compare,  like  matter  compares  with  mind — a 
brute  with  a  man — or  a  taper  with  the  sun.  And  when  phi- 
losophers abandoned  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  could  they 
elude  the  idea  of  God?  or  eradicate  it  from  the  world  ?  Did 
Socrates — did  Seneca — did  Plato — did  Cicero — who  but, 
as  the  scriptures  affirm,  a  fool,  ever  did,  say  in  his  heart 
there  is  no  God  ?  No  impression  is  more  universal  or  uni- 
form, than  this — there  is  a  God ;  nor  any  inference  more 
general  or  natural  than  this — we  owe  him  our  homage,  and 
he  ought  to  be  worshipped. 

But  under  this  impression  and  inference  the  questions 
necessarily  arise — how  shall  we  worship  him  ?  Where  shall 
we  meet  him  ?  in  what  form  shall  we  address  him  ?  with 
with  what  service  will  he  be  pleased  ?  Take  Faber's  great 
work  on  the  Pagan  Idol,  or  his  Mysteries  of  the  Cabiri, 
or  Bryant's  Observations,  for  your  guide,  and  see  how  the 
heathen  world  laboured  and  heaved  !  Ignorant  of  the  per- 
sonal manifestation  Jehovah  had  made  of  himself,  and  in- 

*See  Lecture  V. 


44  LECTURES  ON 

competent  to  estimate  the  subsequent  manifestation  in  the 
flesh  which  he  had  promised,  how  ingeniously,  yet  wretch- 
edly, they  systematised  their  personifications  !  The  tradi- 
tion of  Adam  and  his  three  sons,  united  with  that  of  Noah 
and  his  three  sons,  originated  the  idea  of  a  succession  of 
worlds  ;  and  that  of  the  great  Father  triplicating  himself  as 
the  head  of  each.  Then  the  host  of  heaven  being  blend- 
ed with  their  divine  heroes,  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  call- 
ed for  adoration.  Nor  has  infidelity,  when  she  talks  of  the 
great  temple  of  nature,  done  any  thing  more  than  throw 
the  whole  together,  in  one  confused,  undistinguished,  mass ; 
or,  falling  from  the  high  ideas  of  personal  existence,  which 
the  nature  of  man  suggests,  she  abets  mere  materialism  on 
the  one  hand,  or  is  irrecoverably  lost  in  profitless  abstrac- 
tions on  the  other. 

Thus  we  have  reached  a  point  where,  from  the  very  ne- 
cessities of  our  nature,  a  farther  manifestation  of  God,  than 
that  afforded  by  the  material  universe,  becomes  indispen- 
sable. There  is  no  intermediate  symbol  between  that  gen- 
eral manifestation,  and  a  personal  subsistence ;  and  to  go  be- 
yond this  last,  is  to  pass  out  of  the  system  to  which  man 
belongs.  A  manifestation  by  a  personal  subsistence  (the 
Word)  is  the  very  thing  we  need.  Withhold  it,  and  man- 
kind must  either  sink  into  the  grossest  superstition,  or  be 
conscious  of  an  obligation  which  they  have  neither  ability 
nor  opportunity  to  meet.  Nor  is  this  all ;  but  turning  away 
from  the  evils  of  life,  under  the  strongest  desires  after  glo- 
ry, honor  and  immortality,  eternity  becomes  a  blank,  and 
men  grow  frantic  with  wild  conjecture ;  or  sinking  into 
apathy,  they  die  like  the  brute.  The  necessity  for  a  per- 
sonal manifestation  of  Jehovah  is  found  therefore,  in  the 
constitution  of  man. 

Again  :  God  is  a  spirit,  and  man  has  a  spirit.  Here  is 
similitude.  Common  attributes  and  common  principles, 
throughout  nature,  lead  to  association.  Accordingly  this 
is  the  very  basis  on  which  the  scriptures  have  erected  their 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  45 

whole  moral  superstructure,  depending  for  its  strength  and 
beauty  on  an  endless  variety  of  moral  affinities.  Man, 
they  say,  was  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and  the  highest 
point  of  intellectual  effort  which  they  recommend  to  him, 
is  to  think,  speak  and  act  like  God.  The  God  of  the  bi- 
ble is  the  God  of  nature  ;  and  what  he  has  written  in  the 
bible,  he  has  inscribed  on  nature.  Natural  and  revealed 
religion  are  the  development  of  the  same  essential  moral 
principles.  Christian  philosophers  yield  half  their  argu- 
ment, as  I  believe,  when  they  represent  Christianity  as  an 
original  system  :  for  the  characteristics  of  Christianity  are, 
in  fact,  only  the  modified  operation  of  the  original  insti- 
tute. The  gospel  is  intended,  by  its  remedial  agency,  to 
retrieve  at  last,  when  Jesus  shall  surrender  the  kingdom  to 
his  Father,  the  disaster  which  has  been  introduced  by  the 
fall,  so  far  as  that  can  be  done  in  consistency  with  the  free 
agency  of  man. 

I  have  remarked  that  what  is  written  in  the  bible  is  in- 
scribed on  nature  ;  particularly  in  view  of  the  fact  that  man 
is  made  in  the  image  of  God.  Hence  we  find,  throughout 
the  whole  history  of  our  race,  that  men  are  like  the  gods 
whom  they  worship.  If  the  gods  be  supposed  to  be  sensu- 
al, their  worshippers  are  sensual :  if  the  gods  be  cruel,  their 
worshippers  are  cruel :  if  the  gods  be  intellectual,  their 
worshippers  are  intellectual.  Even  now,  when  men  make 
the  world  the  great  object  of  their  admiration,  they  become 
like  it.  When  they  contemplate  the  spirituality  of  the  Re- 
deemer's character  and  government,  they  become  spiritual : 
beholding  or  reflecting  his  glory  they  are  changed  into  his 
image.  The  denominations  of  christians  who  view  God 
in  all  the  benevolence  which  he  has  written  in  the  scrip- 
tures, or  carried  out  in  his  providence,  are  observed  to  im- 
bibe like  gracious  affections ;  while  those  who  think  him 
harsh  or  always  mysterious,  go  down  to  the  grave  unrecon- 
ciled in  their  feelings,  and  doubtful  as  to  their  destiny. 
This   is   human  nature.     It  cannot  be   otherwise.     The 


46  LECTURES  ON 

brightest,  the  holiest,  the  most  philosophical  idea  which  the 
human  mind  can  conceive,  is  that  of  resembling  God. 

Nor  is  this  all.  Association  among  human  beings  is 
founded  on  the  same  principle.  The  child  imitates  his  pa- 
rent, and  grows  like  him ;  the  servant  imitates  his  master, 
and  grows  like  him ;  the  pupil  imitates  his  preceptor,  and 
grows  like  him ;  the  soldier  imitates  his  commander,  and 
grows  like  him;  the  subject  imitates  his  prince,  and  grows 
like  him.  Whatever  character  a  man  knows  to  be  above 
or  superior  to  his  own,  and  which  he  at  the  same  time  ad- 
mires and  loves,  he  will  not  fail  to  resemble  ;  and  that  just 
so  far  as  he  contemplates  it.  That  God  should  present  him- 
self within  the  range  of  human  observation,  and  in  the  way 
best  calculated  to  attract  our  notice  and  excite  our  admira- 
tion, is  the  certain  and  only  effectual  method  of  either  ele- 
vating man  when  innocent,  or  restoring  him  when  fallen. 
I  repeat  it :  this  is  human  nature — both  its  philosophy  and 
its  religion.  God  manifested  in  personal  form,  instead  of 
being  an  irrational  view  of  the  divine  operations,  is  one  of 
the  most  rational  in  the  whole  range  of  morals.  The  doc- 
trine of  Christ's  divinity  is  founded  in  human  nature  ;  while 
the  exhibition  of  his  mediatorial  character  is  the  purest  dis- 
play of  every  moral  excellence  which  it  is  desirable  for 
man  to  possess,  and  is  exactly  suited  to  our  present  state  of 
sin  and  suffering.  He  who  is  like  Christ,  is  a  holy,  digni- 
fied, heavenly,  happy  man. 

In  this  way  human  beings  have  always  estimated  the 
subject  of  God.  They  have  uniformily  recognized  the  ne- 
cessity for  an  image,  from  which  they  could  derive  becom- 
ing ideas  of  the  personal  perfections  of  their  Creator.  Mo- 
ses speaks  with  great  frequency  and  familiarity  of  the  di- 
vine appearances,  and  severely  censures  the  image  worship 
into  which  the  nations  around  him  had  declined.  All  the 
heathen  have  preserved  the  early  error.  And  Paul,  while 
he  represents  Christ  as  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  yet 
condemns  the  gentiles,  not  on  account  of  the  general  me- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  47 

diatorial  principle  in  which  they  confided,  but  because  they 
changed  the  glory  or  similitude — for  glory  is  manifested  ex- 
cellence— of  the  incorruptible  God,  into  an  image  made  like 
to  corruptible  man,  &c.  The  later  errorists  have  gone  a 
great  deal  farther ;  and,  rushing  into  a  wretched  extreme, 
have  disgusted  the  intelligent,  and  abused  the  ignorant,  by 
filling  their  churches  with  pictures  and  images.  Through- 
out the  christian  church,  by  the  formation  of  voluntary  as- 
sociations, a  series  of  sectarian  affinities  have  been  cre- 
ated ;  and  each  devotee  is  like,  and  true  to  his  party.  Each 
has  his  sectarian  views  of  God,  or,  as  Stillingfleet  expres- 
ses it,  "Imperious,  self-willed  men  are  apt  to  cry  up  God's 
absolute  power  and  dominion  as  his  greatest  perfection ; 
easy  and  soft-spirited  men,  his  patience  and  goodness ;  se- 
vere and  rigid  men,  his  justice  and  severity  :  every  one  ac- 
cording to  his  humour  or  temper,  making  his  God  of  his 
own  complexion."  Even  the  sceptical  philosopher  himself 
has  expended  all  his  vigor  in  his  researches  after  some  in- 
telligible idea  of  God ;  and  is  lost  in  the  immensity  of  an 
inconceivable  abstraction. 

Having  shown,  as  I  believe,  the  impossibility  that  man- 
kind should  form  any  accurate  or  satisfactory  idea  of  Jeho- 
vah abstractedly  considered ;  that  the  constitution  of  human 
nature  renders  a  personal  manifestation  of  God  indispensa- 
bly necessaiy  ;  that  theologians,  in  attempting  to  lead  us  be- 
yond the  exhibition  which  God  has  made  of  himself,  have 
done  nothing  but  entertain  us  with  their  conjectures,  and 
confound  us  with  their  mysteries ;  and  that  when  the  pro- 
position introduced  by  Moses, — "In  the  beginning  God 
made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  is  considered  as  the  start- 
ing point  for  such  unprofitable  speculations,  he  must  be  en- 
tirely misunderstood  ;  let  us  proceed  to  inquire  more  parti- 
cularly what  the  sacred  historian  does  mean. 

If  we  now  turn  to  the  hebrew  text,  we  shall  find  that  a 
literal  translation  would  very  materially  change  the  decla- 
ration, at  present  under  discussion.     We  should  then  have 


4g  LECTURES  ON 

the  following  proposition  : — "In  the  beginning  the  Elohim 
made  the  heavens  and  the  earth."  The  term  Elohim  is  in 
the  plural  number ;  so  that  plurality  is  thus  predicated  of 
the  Creator.  How  ?  In  what  sense  ?  The  inquiry  is  im- 
portant, if  for  no  other  reason,  yet  because  it  will  lead  us 
away  from  those  metaphysical  abstractions  in  which  theolo- 
gians and  philosophers  have  so  freely  indulged,  when  speak- 
ing or  writing  of  our  general  subject. 

That  the  proposition  which  is  now  offered  may  be  dis- 
tinctly apprehended  by  those  who  have  no  acquaintance 
with  the  hebrew  language,  let  it  be  observed,  that  the  ori- 
ginal word  which  I  have  merely  anglicised,  has  been  fre- 
quently rendered  gods,  by  our  translators.  Thus:  "God 
doth  know,  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes 
shall  be  opened,  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  Elohim,  knowing 
good  and  evil."*  "All  the  gods,  Elohim,  of  the  nations  are 
idols. "t  Suppose  for  the  sake  of  illustration — and  let  it  be 
remembered  that  I  make  the  supposition  merely  for  the  sake 
of  illustration — suppose  that  our  present  text  should  be  ren- 
dered thus: — "In  the  be^innino;  the  gods  made  the  hea- 
vens  and  the  earth."  Would  not  this  translation  very  ma- 
terially affect  the  character  of  the  Mosaic  proposition  ? 

The  subject  therefore  which  we  have  now  to  investigate, 
is  this  : — what  does  Moses  mean  ?  what  do  the  whole  scrip- 
tures mean,  by  the  Elohim  ?  Our  inquiry  is  manifestly  of 
paramount  importance,  and  we  must  pursue  it  very  care- 
fully and  deliberately. 

In  the  outset  of  our  investigations  we  shall  be  met  by 
the  remark,  that  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  Moses  speaks 
of  God,  has  been  often  observed  before  ;  and  that  the  fact 
has  been  as  often  confidently  urged  as  a  strong  argument  in 
favor  of  the  doctrine  of  a  divine  trinity.  This  plea  is  not 
to  be  denied.  But  then  the  question  starts  up  before  us, 
what  do  theologians  mean  by  trinity  ?     The  word  is  not 

*Gen.  iii.  5.  fl  Chron.  xvi.  26.        Ps.  xcvi.  5.  \ 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  49 

scriptural.  None  of  the  prophets,  none  of  the  apostles,  have 
used  it.  It  is  not  to  be  found,  even  in  the  apocryphal 
books.  What  then  shall  we  understand  by  the  term  ?  Or 
what  is  the  doctrine  which  it  is  intended  to  express  ? 

Have  not  our  theologians,  in  using  the  fact  to  which  we 
are  now  adverting,  doubly  perplexed  moral  science  ?  Have 
they  not,  instead  of  leaving  us  to  the  contemplation  of  one 
inconceivable  abstraction,  absolutely  given  us  three  abstrac- 
tions! Have  they  not  taught  us  that  there  are  three  omnis- 
cient, omnipresent,  omnipotent  persons  ?  And  yet  have 
they  not  resolutely  maintained  that  there  is  but  one  God  ? 
We  shall  then  be  under  the  necessity  of  inquiring  what  is 
to  be  understood  by  the  term  person  ?  I  do  not  object  to  its 
use,  if  it  is  understood  in  its  proper  sense.  But  if  it  is  to 
be  taken  in  an  improper  sense,  or  rather  as  having  no  deter- 
minate sense — the  way  in  which  theologians  do  employ  it, 
imagining  that  in  its  proper  sense  it  cannot  be  applied  to 
Jehovah— if,  I  say,  it  is  to  be  taken  improperly,  then,  like 
trinity,  it  is  unscriptural.  Our  translators  have  rendered 
the  greek  term  hypostasis,  used  by  Paul  in  the  first  chap- 
ter of  his  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  by  the  word  person  ;  and 
they  have  done  right.  But  still  our  translators  were  theo- 
logians; and,  as  such,  were  advocates  of  the  doctrine  of 
"three  persons  in  the  Godhead."  Theyhave  consequent- 
ly attached  to  the  term  the  meaning,  as  far  as  any  mean- 
ing was  given,  which  was  ascribed  to  it  after  the  council  of 
Nice. 

While  I  do  not  object  to  the  term  when  used  in  its  pro- 
per sense,  as  I  shall  explain  at  large  hereafter,*  and  as 
I  have  remarked  that  theologians  use  it  in  an  improper 
sense,  it  is  necessary  to  inquire  more  particularly  what  they 
do  mean  ? — or  rather  what  they  do  not  mean  ?  They  do 
not  mean  to  say,  that  there  are  three  distinct  beings,  for 
that  would  make  three  Gods.     Neither  do  they  use  the 

See  Lecture  V. 
Vol.  I.— 5 


50  LECTURES  ON 

term,  as  it  is  employed  when  we  speak  of  a  man;  for  that 
would  make  three  distinct  beings,  and  of  course  three  Gods. 
But  they  find,  as  they  suppose,  personal  attributes  and  ope- 
rations ascribed  in  the  bible  to  the  Father ;  in  like  manner 
they  find  them  ascribed  to  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and 
hence  they  infer,  that  there  is  a  something — that  there  is  a 
distinction  of  some  kind — in  the  divine  essence  :  which 
something  or  distinction  they  cannot  express  by  any  better 
term  than  person,  while  yet  they  profess  to  have  no  clear 
or  well  defined  idea  of  its  import ;  and  having  thus  express- 
ed their  doctrine,  in  words  which  they  acknowledge  them- 
selves unable  to  explain,  they  give  up  the  whole  matter  as 
an  incomprehensible  mystery. 

One  of  their  late  writers  has  expressed  himself  on  this 
subject  in  the  following  words:  " Of  the  precise  import 
of  the  term  personality,  as  applied  to  a  distinction  in  the 
divine  essence,  or  of  the  peculiar  nature  and  mode  of  that 
distinction,  I  shall  riot  presume  to  attempt  conveying  to 
your  minds  any  clear  conception.  I  cannot  impart  to  you 
what  I  do  not  possess  myself ; — and  convinced  as  I  am,  that 
such  conception  cannot  be  attained  by  any,  it  had  been  well,  I 
think,  if  such  attempts  at  explanation  by  comparisons  from 
nature  and  otherwise,  had  never  been  made.  They  have 
afforded  to  the  enemies  of  the  doctrine,  much  unnecessary 
occasion  for  burlesque  and  blasphemy."  *  Even  Augustin 
himself,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Latin  Fathers 
and  who  took  a  very  active  part  in  the  discussions  on  this  sub- 
ject, which  were  prevalent  in  his  age,  considered  the  phrase 
three  persons,  not  as  being  precisely  accurate,  but  merely 
preferable  to  silence.  He  viewed  the  subject  as  above  hu- 
man comprehension,  and  therefore  did  not  know  how  to 
speak  about  it.  Thus  it  is  estimated  at  the  present  day : 
and  those  who  are  not  satisfied  with  the  representations  which 
are  made,  are  afraid  to  touch  it,  or  find  a  very  convenient 

*  Wardlaw's  Discourses,  pp.  10,  11. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  5] 

escape  under  the  .general  impression,  that  the  whole  affair 
is  an  inscrutable  mystery. 

I  know  of  no  ecclesiastical  matter  whose  history  exhibits 
more  distracting  anxieties  among  divines,  or  more  of  that 
kind  of  speculation  which  men  pursue  under  the  guidance 
of  false  philosophy,  while  the  scriptures  themselves  are  for- 
gotten, than  this  very  controversy  about  the  trinity.  I  have 
time  to  state  but  a  few  general  facts. 

This  controversy  appears  to  have  followed  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Grecian  philosophy  into  the  church,  in  the  se- 
cond centur}'' ;  and  though  various  heresies  were  started,  yet 
the  christian  doctors  in  general,  down  to  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, appear  to  have  "  entertained  different  sentiments  upon 
the  subject"  of  Godhead,  "  without  giving  the  least  offence ; 
and  discoursed  variously  concerning  the  distinctions  between 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  each  one  following  his  respec- 
tive opinion  with  the  utmost  liberty." 

In  the  third  century,  Noetus  of  Smyrna,  "an  obscure 
man."  taught  that  the  supreme  God  united  himself  to  the 
man  Christ,  and  was  born  and  crucified  with  him.  He  and 
his  followers  were  hence  called  Patripassians,  as  they  main- 
tained that  the  Father  of  the  universe  died  for  the  sins  of 
men.  Their  idea  does  not  appear  to  have  been  entirel}- 
thrown  out  of  the  church  to  this  day ;  for  we  often  hear  of  a 
suffering,  expiring,  rising  God. 

About  the  middle  of  the  same  century,  Sabellius  appear- 
ed, and  maintained  that  "a  certain  energy  only,  proceeding 
from  the  supreme  parent,  or  a  certain  portion  of  the  divine 
nature,  was  united  to  the  Son  of  God,  the  man  Jesus ;  and 
he  considered,  in  the  same  manner,  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  a 
portion  of  the  everlasting  Father." 

Both  these  views  of  trinity  had  been  promulgated  in  the 
preceding  century — one  by  Praxeas  "a  very  distinguish- 
ed man  and  a  confessor  at  Rome ;"  and  the  other  by  Thep- 
dotus,  "a  tanner,  yet  a  man  of  learning  and  a  philosopher, 
and  by  Artemasor  Artemon,  from  whom  originated' the  Ar- 


52  LECTURES  ON  \  W 

temonites."  Still,  historians  feel  it  to  be  very  difficult  to 
state  with  precision  what  the  sentiments  of  these  individu- 
als were.  The  latter  view,  under  the  name  of  Sabellianism, 
has  figured  most  conspicuously  in  controversial  theology ; 
and  though  no  two  writers  agree  in  their  account,  or  pretend 
accurately  to  define  what  Sabellianism  was,  yet  the  epithet 
is  very  freely  used,  and  very  dogmatically  applied  to  a  re- 
puted heresy,  and  even  by  those  who  have  never  been  dis- 
tinguished for  their  enlarged  acquaintance  with  ecclesiasti- 
cal antiquities.  By  this  means,  the  community,  who  have 
no  opportunity  of  ascertaining  what  Sabellianism  was,  are  led 
to  imagine  that  it  was  a  hateful  something,  full  as  bad  as,  if 
not  worse  than,  unitarianism  itself. 

The  account  which  I  have  just  given,  has  been  taken  from 
Mosheim'  s  ecclesiastical  history.  I  have  preferred  his  state- 
ment to  that  of  any  other,  because  I  believe  that  the  author 
is  fully  entitled  to  all  the  praise  he  has  received,  as  the  best 
writer  in  his  department  with  whom  the  public  are,  or  have 
the  opportunity  to  be,  acquainted: — Because  Arius,  whom 
every  one  acknowledges  to  have  been  a  very  acute  and 
subtle  reasoner,  charges  Alexander,  whom  the  orthodox, 
would  uphold,  as  promulgating  Sabellianism : — and  because 
that  Alexander  himself,  in  repelling  the  charge,  asserts  that 
Sabellius  taught  £he  doctrine  of  "separations  and  effluxes 
of  parts."  His  view  then,  as  Arius  supposed,  was  not 
materially  different  from  the  orthodox  statements ;  because  it 
involved  a  distinction  in  the  divine  essence  itself — or,  I 
should  rather  say,  in  Jehovah  as  a  self-existent  Being. 
When  these  "separations  or  effluxes  of  parts"  take  place, 
or  are  presented,  what  matters  it  whether  you  call  those 
parts  by  the  inadequate  term  portions,  or  by  the  term 
persons,  which  no  one  professes  to  be  able  to  explain  ?  If 
therefore,  there  is  any  Sabellianism  countenanced  in  the 
church,  it  is  by  the  trinitarians  themselves.  They  are  the 
Sabellians  of  the  present  day;  and  if  Sabellianism  be  heresy, 
they  are  the  heretics.     Permit  me  then,  most  distinctly  and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT. ,  53 

pointedly,  to  throw  off  an  imputation  which  no  speculations 
of  mine  have  deserved,  and  to  refer  it  in  honest  appropria- 
tion to  those  to  whom  it  is  due.  * 

While  the  doctrine  of  Sabellius  was  frequently  condemn- 
ed, the  church,  so  far  as  any  general  facts  can  be  stated, 
appears  to  have  been  divided  in  sentiment,  even  when  a 
formal  decision  was  attempted.  In  the  east  the  trinity  was 
explained  as  being  one  essence  and  three  substances :  and  in 
the  west  as  one  substance  and  three  persons. 

At  last  a  crisis  occurred.  Alexander,  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria, "on  a  certain  time,  in  presence  of  the  priests  that 
were  under  him,  and  the  rest  of  the  clergy,"  as  Socrates 
the  historian  informs  us,  began  to  discourse  somewhat 
' '  more  curiously  of  the  holy  trinity  and  the  unity  to  be  in 
the  trinity.  Arius  then  being  one  of  the  priests  placed  in 
order  under  him,  a  man  very  skilful  in  the  subtleties  of  so- 
phistical logic,  suspecting  the  bishop  to  have  brought  into 
the  church  the  erroneous  doctrine  of  Sabellius  the  Africk, 
and  being  kindled  with  the  desire  of  contention,  set  himself 
opposite  against  the  opinions  of  Sabellius  -the  Africk,  and 
as  it  seemed  directly  against  the  allegations  of  the  bishop." 
An  ecclesiastical  war  was  thus  commenced ;  the  whole 
church  was  thrown  into  fearful  commotion ;  council  after 
council  was  called ;  creed  after  creed  was"*framed  ;  the  civil 
arm  was  employed;  and  from  that  day  to  this  we  have  the 
doctrine  of  the  three  persons  on  the  one  hand,  or  that  of 
Arius  and  its  consequences  on  the  other.  So  then  on  both 
sides,  the  controvertists  must  trace  their  origin  to  the  fourth 
century ;  and  their  unceasing  strife  is  as  fair  a  comment  as 
could  be  desired,  on  the  value  of  creeds  and  confessions  of 
faith.  In  this  review,  unitarianism  can  boast  but  little  ;  for 
the  most  part  she  is  shorn  even  of  the  little  glory  that  Arius 
left  her. 

*  See   Letters   ef   Alexander  and   Arius — Mosheim,    Murdoch's 
Trans,  vol.  i  pp.  3-13 — 4.  Note  ;  and  my  Essay  on  Creeds,  chap,  viiu 

ft* 


54  LECTURES  ON 

It  is  really  painful  to  read  the  account  given  of  those 
times  by  Hilary,  who  was  perfectly  familiar  with  their  con- 
tentions, and  whose  authority  is  not  to  be  disputed.  Thus 
he  writes — "  It  is  a  thing  equally  deplorable  and  dangerous, 
that  there  are  as  many  creeds  as  there  are  opinions  among 
men ;  as  many  doctrines  as  inclinations ;  and  as  many 
sources  of  blasphemy  as  there  are  faults  among  us ;  be- 
cause WE  MAKE  CREEDS  ARBITRARILY,  AND  EXPLAIN  THEM 

as  arbitrarily.  And  as  there  is  but  one  faith,  so  there 
is  but  one  only  God,  one  Lord,  and  one  baptism.  We  re- 
nounce this  one  faith,  when  we  make  so  many  different  creeds ; 
and  that  diversity  is  the  reason  why  we  have  no  true  faith 
among  us.  We  cannot  be  ignorant,  that  since  the 
council  of  Nice,  we  have  done  nothing  but  make 
creeds.  And  while  we  fight  against  words,  litigate  about 
new  questions,  dispute  about  equivocal  terms,  complain  of 
authors,  that  every  one  may  make  his  own  party  triumph : 
while  we  cannot  agree,  while  we  anathematize  one  ano- 
ther, there  is  hardly  one  that  adheres  to  Jesus  Christ.  What 
change  was  there  not  in  the  creed  last  year !  The  first  coun- 
cil ordained  a  silence  upon  the  homoousion ;  the  second  es- 
tablished it,  and  would  have  us  speak ;  the  third  excuses 
the  fathers  of  the  council,  and  pretends  they  took  the  word 
ousia  simply ;  the  fourth  condemns  them,  instead  of  ex- 
cusing them.  With  respect  to  the  likeness  of  the  Son  of 
God  to  the  Father,  which  is  the  faith  of  our  deplorable 
times,  they  dispute  whether  he  is  like  in  whole  or  in 
part.  These  are  rare  folks  to  unravel  the  secrets  of  hea- 
ven. Nevertheless  it  is  for  these  creeds  about  invisible 
mysteries,  that  we  calumniate  one  another,  and  for  our  be- 
lief in  God.  We  make  creeds  every  year ;  nay  every  moon  ' 
Ave  repent  of  what  we  have  done,  we  defend  those  that  re- 
pent, we  anathematize  those  that  we  defended,  So  we 
condemn  either  the  doctrine  of  others  in  ourselves,  or  our 
own  in  that  of  others ;  and  reciprocally  tearing  one  ano- 
ther to  pieces,  we  have  been  the  cause  of  each  other's  ruin." 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  Jk  55 

Even  Augustin  himself,  describing  his  own  times,  sa3's — 
' '  That  the  yoke  once  laid  upon  the  Jews  was  more  sup- 
portable than  that  laid  on  many  christians  in  his  age — 
For  the  christian  bishops  introduced,  with  but  slight  alter- 
ations, into  the  christian  worship,  those  rites  and  institutions 
by  which  formerly  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  others  had 
manifested  their  piety  and  reverence  towards  their  imagi- 
nary deities  ;  supposing  that  the  people  would  more  readily 
embrace  Christianity,  if  they  perceived  the  rites  handed 
down  to  them  from  their  fathers,  still  existing  unchanged 
among  the  christians ;  and  saw  that  Christ  and  the  martyrs 
were  worshipped  in  the  same  manner  as  formerly  their 
gods  were.  There  was,  of  course,  little  difference  in  these 
times  between  the  public  worship  of  the  christians  and  that 
of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  In  both  there  were  splendid 
robes,  mitres,  tiaras,  wax  tapers,  crosiers,  processions,  lus- 
trations, images,  golden  and  silver  vases,  and  innumerable 
other  things  alike."  * 

Such  is  the  account  given  of  those  deplorable  times, 
whence  the  contending  parties  on  the  subject  of  trinity 
have  derived  their  doctrines.  A  modern  writer,  whose 
candour  may  be  highly  admired,  and  whose  literary  pre- 
eminence none  will  question,!  has,  in  a  very  short  para- 
graph, described  the  deep  and  dreadful  fall  of  ecclesi- 
astical men. — "  In  about  three  hundred  years  after  the  ascen- 
sion of  Jesus,  without  the  aid  of  secular  power,  or  church 
authority,  the  christian  religion  spread  over  a  large  part  of 
Asia,  Europe  and  Africa,  and  at  the  accession  of  Constantine, 
and  convention  of  the  council  of  Nice,  it  was  almost  every 
where  throughout  these  countries  in  a  flourishing  condition, 
n  the  space  of  another  three  hundred  years,  or  a  little 
more,  the  beauty  of  the  christian  religion  was  greatly  cor- 
rupted in  a  large  part  of  that  extent,  its  glory  defaced,  and 
its  light  almost  extinguished.     What  can  this  be  so  much 

*  Murdoch's  Trans,  p.  331,  vol.  i.  f  Lardner 


56  LECTURES  OK 

owing  to,  as  to  the  determination  and  transactions  of  the- 
council  of  Nice,  and  the  measures  thus  set  on  foot,  and  fol- 
lowed in  succeeding  times?'3  Is  it  not  a  melancholy  and 
tearful  tale  ?  In  what,  I  pray  you,  may  the  advocates  of 
creeds,  or  the  idolaters  of  these  early  saints,  so  enthusias- 
tically glory  ?  Surely  the  generality  of  christians,  who  cen- 
sure so  severely  their  heretical  brethren,  eulogize  so  highly 
the  virtues  of  the  fathers,  and  so  confidently  talk  of  the  good 
old  ways,  cannot  have  the  most  distant  idea  of  the  facts  in 
the  case  ; — facts  which  they  may  all  know  by  reading  a  few 
pages  of  ecclesiastical  history. 

The  controversy  has  never  yet  been  settled.  Though 
men  in  power  have  been  able  to  fling  obloquy  upon  the  ec- 
clesiastic who  dared  to  question  the  popular  dogma,  and 
to  fill  the  public  mind  with  the  most  appalling  suspicions  of 
his  integrity,  yet  the  reader  of  ecclesiastical  history  well 
knows,  that  the  subject  has  been  often  canvassed,  notwith- 
standing the  fearful  risk  incurred.  He  will  readily  remem- 
ber the  contests  occasioned  by  Peter,  surnamed  the  Ful- 
ler, and  the  formula  of  concord  offered  by  the  emperor 
Zeno,  commonly  called  his  Henoticon,  in  the  fifth  centu- 
ry:— The  agitated  questions  in  the  sixth,  "whether  it 
could  be  properly  said  that  one  of  the  trinity  was  crucified  ?" 
and,  "whether  it  was  proper  to  say,  Christ's  person  was 
compounded  ?"  As  well  as  the  sect  of  the  Tritheists,  head- 
ed by  John  Ascunage,  who  "  imagined  there  were  in  God, 
three  numerically  distinct  natures,  or  subsistencies,  all  per- 
fectly alike  and  connected  by  no  common  vinculum  of  es- 
sence ;" — The  mandate  of  Hincmar  concerning  Me  trine 
God,  which  the  Benedictine  monks  refused  to  obey,  in  the 
ninth : — The  notion  advanced  by  Joachim,  abbot  of  Flora, 
who  "denied  that  there  was  in  the  sacred  trinity,  a  some- 
thing, or  an  essence,  which  was  common  to  the  three  per- 
sons :  from  which  position  it  seemed  to  follow,  that  the  union 
of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  is  not  a  simple  or  na- 
tural union,  but  merely  a  moral  union,  like  that  of  several 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  57 

persons  all  having  the  same  views  and  opinions,"  in  the  thir- 
teenth : — The  imputations  thrown  on  Calixtus,  in  the  seven- 
teenth  /—and  at  a  later  period  the  discussions  which  were 
started,  and  the  fears  that  were  excited,  by  Burnet,  Maty, 
Clarke,  Waterland,  and  even  by  Dr.  Watts — whose  psalms 
and  hymns  have  been  so  long  popular ;  and  yet,  whose  sanity, 
as  well  as  orthodoxy,  has  been  questioned  by  many,  who 
would  deserve  a  great  deal  of  praise,  had  they  imitated  his 
candor,  or  displayed  his  intellectual  power. 

The  preceding  sketch,,  though  rapid  and  imperfect,  is  en- 
tirely sufficient  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  has  been  in- 
troduced. It  serves  to  show  what  consequences  have  fol- 
lowed the  reverence  that  has  been  paid  to  the  Grecian  phi- 
losophy ,  and  the  surrender  of  individual  liberty  to  ecclesi- 
astical dominion.  And  what  has  been  gained  ?  A  dogma 
which  no  man  ever  pretended  to  explain ;  expressed  in 
terms  which  all  admit  must  be  understood  in  a  sense  both 
unique  and  improper ;  and  from  which  so  many  are  revolt- 
ing so  rudely,  or  to  which  they  bow  so  reluctantly.  Timi- 
dity and  superstition  seal  many  lips  in  silence,  while  litera- 
ry objectors  forget  the  dignity  of  the  subject  in  the  inge- 
nuity of  verbal  criticism.  And  is  it  then  a  criminal  and 
presumptuous  feeling  which  prompts  researches  beyond 
the  period  when  this  series  of  evils  commenced  ?  May  we 
not  go  back  and  ask  what  was  believed  concerning  Jeho- 
vah, when  the  only  inquiry  was,  whether  there  were  more 
Gods  than  one  ?  Controversy  existed,  but  assuredly  the  ques- 
tion was  not  how  many  persons  there  are  in  the  godhead  ? 
This  question  the  scriptures  have  not  discussed,  though  they 
have  most  freely  remarked  on  the  iniquity  of  idolatry.  And 
should  we  ascertain  what  that  doctrine  was,  when  prophets 
and. apostles  wrote,  are  we  to  be  censured  as  the  abettors  of 
innovation  ?  Rather  do  we  not  discard  innovation,  and 
obey  that  good  old  direction,  which  has  been  so  often  quoted 
amiss,  and  with  a  very  sanctimonious  air — "Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  stand  ye  in  the  ways,  and  see,  and  ask  for  the  old 


58  LECTURES  ON" 

paths,  where  is  the  good  way,  and  walk  therein,  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  for  your  souls."  # 

I  object  then  to  the  popular  doctrine  on  this  subject,  be- 
cause the  terms  in  which  it  is  expressed  are  not  scriptural ; 
because  they  came  into  the  church  long  after  the  apostles 
had  gone  to  their  rest,  and  are  the  technicalities  of  a  most  de- 
generate and  contentious  age  ;  because  they  required  more 
synodical  force  and  civil  authority  to  bring  them  into  the 
church,  than  can  now  be  obtained  to  keep  them  there  ;  be- 
cause no  man  can  even  pretend  to  explain  them ;  because 
they  never  have  done  any  thing  but  engender  strife,  and 
prevent  the  lover  of  the  Son  of  God  from  understanding  his 
gospel ;  and  because  we  are  explicitly  commanded  to  speak 
the  things  which  "are  freely  given  to  us  of  God,  not  in  the 
words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  teacheth,  comparing  spiritual  things  with  spiritual."! 

Objecting  to  these  terms  and  phrases,  for  the  reasons  which 
have  been  stated,  I  propose  to  throw  them  all  aside,  and  to 
examine  the  scriptures  on  this  subject  for  myself.  Can 
any  of  my  brethren  condemn  my  purpose  ?  Why  should  I 
not  see  truth  with  my  own  eyes  ?  Will  God  refuse  to  give 
grace  and  wisdom  to  a  man  who  honestly  intends  to  "search 
the  scriptures"  for  himself?  Or  is  it  impossible  for  a  pray- 
erful student  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  God  from  the  bible, 
when  God  is  revealed  in  the  bible  ?  I  apprehend  that 
there  must  be  some  mistake  about  this  matter ;  and  that  the 
idea  of  an  inscrutable  mystery  has  alarmed  us  all.  by  a  great 
deal,  too  much.  Is  it  not  humiliating  that  we  should  be 
speaking  of  God  in  unintelligible  language  ?  and  when  we 
see  so  many  driven  from  the  altars  of  our  Master  by  this 
very  fact?  Brethren,  I  must  examine  this  subject,  if  in  the 
end  I  fail.  But  I  address  myself  to  the  task  with  a  manly, 
yet  humble,  confidence,' that  I  shall  not  be  unsuccessful. 
Is  not  this  the  province  in  which  we  are  all  called  to  exer- 
cise FAITH. 

*Jer.  vi.  16.  t  1  Cor-  »•  12>  13, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  59 

The  question  returns  upon  us — what  does  Moses  mean 
by  Elohim?  Let  us  carefully  and  patiently  pursue  this  in- 
quiry. 

In  the  progress  of  ages,  terms  not  unfrequently  change 
their  import  entirely ;  and  even  when  they  do  not,  yet  their 
illustration  may  be  very  much  modified  by  a  new  combina- 
tion of  circumstances  to  which  they  may  be  applied.     It  is 
therefore  one  of  the  best  methods  of  ascertaining  the  force 
of  any  term,  which  a  writer  may  use  in  any  particular  age, 
to  consider  whether  that  term  had  any  special  import  or  re-- 
ference  in  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Moses  appears  in  his 
official  character  and  relations,  when  writing  this  history. 
We   must  read   his   historical   chapters,  as   those    of  the 
old    testament    apostle,  commissioned    to  establish    the 
Jewish  commonwealth;  a  measure   on  which  Jehovah  had 
resolved  for  particular  reasons.     The  object  for  which  he 
wrote  may  throw  a  great  deal  of  light  on  the  terms  he  em- 
ploys.    And  as  he  thought  a  brief  history  of  the  preceding 
state  of  the  world  to  be  necessary  to  accomplish  the  end  he 
had  in  view,  perhaps  the  general  prefatory  facts  which  he 
records  may  be  equally  relevant  in  our  present  researches. 
By  referring  to  his  account,  we  find  that  Cain  and  Abel, 
a  few  years  after  the  fall,  are  introduced  to  our  notice. 
Cain  is  represented  as  being  exceedingly  offended — perhaps 
because  for  some  misconduct,  he  had  been  despoiled  of  his 
birthright,  and  disrobed  of  his  official  honors,  as  his  father's 
successor.     The  scriptural  facts  and  comments  certainly 
place  the  character  of  Abel  in  bold  relief,  and  show  that 
Cain  was  a  dishonored,  and  a  dishonorable  man.    He  resents 
the  affront  by  murdering  his  brother,  and  finally  departs  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord,  to  dwell  in  the  land  of  Nod.  His 
going  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  is  a  very  peculiar 
phrase,  and  imports,  as  might  be  readily  shown,  his  aban- 
donment of  the  ceremonial  establishment  which  God  had 
erected,  when  he  placed  the  cherubim  of  glory  in  a  taberna- 
cle, at  the  east  end  of  the  garden  of  Eden.     The  service 


60  LECTURES  ON 

required  by  the  law  of  this  mediatorial  dispensation,  it  id 
very  evident  from  the  story,  he  had  first  despised  or  corrupt- 
ed. His  departure  to  the  land  of  Nod,  was  a  virtual,  if  not 
a  malignant,  rejection  of  the  ritual  which  had  been  given 
to  his  father.  In  other  words,  he  denied  the  doctrine,  and 
disowned  his  allegiance  to  the  authority,  of  the  Mediator. 
After  Abel's  murder,  and  Cain's  apostacy,  Seth  becomes  his 
father's  official  heir.  From  him  proceeds  a  race  of  official 
men,  known  in  the  history  as  the  sons  God.  These  sons 
of  God,  in  process  of  time,  so  far  lose  their  integrity  as  to 
marry  the  daughters  of  men,  or  the  daughters  of  Cain.  The 
result  was  official  infidelity,  and  most  lamentable  degenera- 
cy. At  last  Noah  stands  alone  as  officially  righteous ;  and 
Jehovah,  entering  into  covenant  with  him,  brings  the  flood 
upon  the  earth.  The  crime  of  the  antediluvian  age  appears, 
then,  to  have  been  the  rejection  of  the  Mediator — it  was 

INFIDELITY. 

The  mediatorial  constitution  was  renewed  in  Noah,  and  a 
farther  promise  was  given  that  the  Lord  would  not  again 
curse  the  ground  any  more  for  man's  sake.  But  mankind 
corrupted  their  way  a  second  time  before  the  Lord ;  and 
though  their  crime  was  not  precisely  the  same  with  the  an- 
tediluvian rebellion,  yet  it  was  so  fearful  in  its  character, 
and  so  degrading  and  desolating  in  its  consequences,  that 
something  must  be  done,  or  truth  would  be  driven  from  the 
earth.  They  did  not  deny,  but  they  corrupted,  the  media- 
torial institute.  They  changed  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible 
God  into  an  image  made  like  unto  corruptible  man.  They 
did  not  sink  into  sheer  infidelity,  but  they  declined  into 
idolatry.  And  it  was  in  order  to  counteract  this  state  of 
things,  or  to  preserve  the  knowledge  of  God  as  revealed  in 
the  Mediator,  that  Jehovah  entered  upon  that  new  and  pe- 
culiar course  of  legislation,  which  is  called,  in  the  scrip- 
tures, the  mystery  of  his  will;  and  which  commenced  with 
the  call  of  Abraham  from  the  midst  of  his  idolatrous  family. 
To  carry  out  this  general  benevolent  purpose,  his  descend- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  61 

&nts  were  first  elected,  as  the  gentiles  were  afterwards.  It 
is  in  this  very  connexion  that  Moses  receives  his  commis- 
sion. He  was  sent  to  bring  the  children  of  Abraham  from 
Egypt,  and  to  conduct  them  to  their  official  station  in  the 
land  of  Canaan,  as  the  elect  of  the  Lord.  Of  course  the 
specific  object  for  which  Moses  was  consecrated,  and  for 
which  the  nation  was  chosen,  was  to  proclaim  the  know- 
ledge of  the  true  God,  in  opposition  to  polytheism.  "  The 
law  was  added  because  of  corruptions."* 

There  is  not  the  least  indistinctness  in  the  conclusion  we 
have  reached.  Moses  never  loses  sight  of  his  object,  but 
most  solemnly  and  emphatically  charges  the  people  respect- 
ing it.— "  Hear,  O  Israel,  Jehovah,  our  Elohim,  is  one 
Jehovah."!  In  this  connexion  then,  we  must  consider  and 
explain  the  term,  after  whose  scriptural  import  we  are  in- 
quiring. 

Observe,  Moses  says — our  Elohim !  Were  there  any 
other  Elohim  ?  Yes :  many,  very  many.  The  gods  of  the 
heathen,  which  were  innumerable,  were  called  Elohim : — 
"all  the  Elohim  of  the  nations,"  says  the  psalmist,  "are 
idols."  And  this  is  the  contrast  which  Moses  would  pre- 
sent;— "Jehovah,  our  Elohim  is  one  Jehovah,"  or  God  : 
the  Elohim  of  the  nations  are  many. 

But  more  than  this :  the  nations  imagined  that  there  was 
"  a  great  universal  Father,  himself  one  and  many,"  and  that 
from  him  "a  divine  emanation  proceeded;  who,  assuming 
the  form  of  a  man,  has  descended  from  heaven  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reforming  and  instructing  and  reconciling  the  hu- 
man race.  Nor,  according  to  the  speculations  of  the  gen- 
tiles, has  this  descent  been  accomplished  once  only  :  on  the 
contrary  it  has  often  been  accomplished,  and  at  each  de- 
scent, the  emanation  is  in  some  sort  esteemed  a  new  per- 
son, and  is  distinguished  by  a  new  title.  This  is  paganism 
as  explained  and  received  throughout  the  east ;  and  to  this 

*Gal.  iii.  19.  t  Duet.  vi.  4. 

Vol.  L— 6 


62  LECTURES  ON    . 

day  prevails  among  the  Hindoos."*  Thus  the  Elohim, 
among  idolaters,  included  many  gods,  and  many  emana- 
tions, descending  in  the  form  of  man,  for  mediatorial  pur- 
poses: but  our  Elohim,  says  Moses,  is  only  one  Jehovah. 

Why  then  did  Moses  use  the  term  Elohim  at  all  ?  Would 
it  not,  instead  of  counteracting  idolatry,  rather  countenance 
and  perpetuate  it?  Or  does  he  intend  to  convey  the  idea 
of  a  divine  emanation,  proceeding  from  heaven,  and  assum- 
ing the  form  of  a  man,  for  mediatorial  purposes  ?  Or  if  the 
term  emanation  is  altogether  unscriptural,  and  entirely  dis- 
proportioned  to  the  magnitude  of  the  subject,  did  he  design 
to  teach  any  analogous  doctrine  ?  It  evidently  appears  that 
the  idea  of  plurality,  in  some  form  or  other,  is  to  be  predi- 
cated of  God,  or  the  word  could  not  have  any  other  than  an 
injurious  tendency;  as  all  the  idolatrous  nations  most  abun- 
dantly testify,  by  the  use  they  have  made  of  it.  Could  Mo- 
ses then  jeopard  so  carelessly  the  character  of  the  dispen- 
sation he  was  commissioned  to  introduce  ?  While  he  was 
professedly  condemning  polytheism,  could  he  so  inconsid- 
erately establish  it  among  his  own  people  ?  Or  was  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  impart  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God, 
and  give  a  detailed  account  of  the  works  of  Jehovah,  with- 
out  making  this  representation  ? 

Is  it  then  necessarily  true,  that  there  has  been  an  emana- 
tion from  Jehovah,  or  something  analogous  to  it,  appearing 
among  men,  and  in  the  form  of 'man?  I  see  not  how  an  af- 
firmative answer  can  be  avoided.  On  the  contrary,  if  we 
proceed  with  Moses,  in  his  history,  we  shall  find  that  he  ac- 
tually, unequivocally,  and  more  than  once,  states  the  fact, 
that  God  did  appear  in  the  likeness  of  man.  Read  the  short 
sketches  he  has  given  of  Abraham's  life  and  of  Jacob's  life.t 
There  is  no  escape  from  a  testimony  which  is  so  clear  and 
explicit.  And  if  there  can  be  no  escape,  then  in  the  fact 
of  a  divine  manifestation  unto  men,  we  have  the  reason  for 

*  Faber's  Three  Dis.  vol.  2,  p.  395. 
tGen.  xviii.  1—33;  xxxii.  24—32. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  63 

the  use  of  the  plural  noun  Elohim,  and  its  various  adjuncts. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case,  this  ancient  apostle  could  not 
speak  in  any  other  way ;  and  the  doctrine  which  the  phrase- 
ology implies  was  indispensably  necessary,  both  to  correct 
the  aberrations  into  which  idolaters  had  fallen,  and  to  an- 
nounce  to  mankind  the  one  Jehovah. 

It  is-worthy  of  special  notice  that  Moses,  when  he  reca- 
pitulates the  account  of  the  creation  with  a  view  of  dis- 
playing the  political  relations  in  which  Adam  was  placed, 
employs  the  compound  term — Jehovah- Elohim — as  the  offi- 
cial title  by  which  God  was  designated ;  and  this  title  is 
used  throughout  the  last  two  chapters  under  consideration. 
It  is,  as  I  understand  it,  equivalent  with  Logos,  or  Word. 
And  had  our  translators  made  us  as  familiar  with  the  he- 
brew  term  Jehovah-Elohim,  as  they  have  with  the  he- 
brew  term  Jehovah  ;  or  had  they  marked  the  distinction 
between  the  two  titles,  as  they  have  in  the  new  testament 
distinguished  between  God  and  Word  ;  or  had  we  noticed 
the  difference  between  Jehovah,  and  Lord  God,  which 
the  translators  have  made,  the  subject  of  trinity  would  be, 
I  apprehend,  better  understood  at  present. — We  shall  have 
occasion  to  observe  this  peculiarity  hereafter. 

The  foregoing  argument  may  be  illustrated  and  confirm- 
ed, if  we  call  up  a  similar  representation  made  by  the  apos- 
tle Paul,  in  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  Like  Moses, 
he  had  occasion  to  condemn  the  idolatry  around  him ;  and 
to  oppose  to  it  the  revelation  of  the  true  God  which  had 
been  made.  In  arguing  on  the  propriety  of  eating  meat 
offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols,  he  remarks,  "There  be  gods 
many,  and  lords  many  :  But  to  us  there  is  but  one  God,  the 
Father,  of  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  in  him ;  and  one 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  by  him."* 
As  though  he  had  said, — "The  heathen  have  many  gods, 
and  many  lords  proceeding  from  them  in  the  likeness  of 
men ;  but  we  have  only  one  God,  and  one  Lord  proceed- 

*Ch,  viiL  5,  6. 


64  LECTURES  ON 

ing  from  him — the  lord  from  heaven,  in  the  likeness  of 
man."t  Is  this  not  the  plain  and  evident  meaning  of*  what 
he  has  said  ? 

It  might,  in  reading  this  passage  hastily,  or  for  sectarian 
purposes,  be  imagined  that  the  apostle  had  no  intention  to  ■ 
represent  Jesus  Christ  as  any  thing  more  than  a  mere  man. 
But  where  would  be  the  point  of  the  contrast?  The  hea- 
then did  not  think  their  lords  to  be  mere  men,  but  consid- 
ered them  to  be  so  many  emanations  from  the  gods  ;  which, 
having  accomplished  the  object  of  their  descent,  returned 
and  were  re-absorbed  in  deity.  This  is  the  doctrine  which 
Paul  was  opposing.  And  what  would  an  ingenuous  hea- 
then understand  him  to  mean  by  the  one  Lord  Jesus,  but 
one  emanation  from  the  one  God,  and  the  only  one  that 
could  be  acknowledged?  Here  then  we  have  Moses  and' 
Paul  in  the  same  attitude.  Though  they  lived  in  very  dif- 
ferent ages,  and  were  official  men  under  very  different  dis- 
pensations, yet  they  state  precisely  the  same  moral  problem. 
Moses  says — "Jehovah  our  Elohim  is  one  Jehovah,"  and 
records  the  fact  of  his  appearing  in  the  likeness  of  a  man  r 
and  Paul  says — "we  have  one  God,  even  the  Father,  and 
one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  who  did  appear  in  the  fashion  of 
man,  and  denominates  him  the  lord  from  heaven  ;  and 
all  this  too  in  an  argument  against  idolatry.  Evidently 
this  Lord  of  whom  Paul  speaks,  belongs  to  the  EL'OHiMof 
which  Moses  speaks ;  and  in  both  cases  there  is  but  one 
Jehovah  : — one  god,  of  whom  are  all  things,  the  heavens 
and  earth  and  all  their  host,  and  we  in  him  ;  and  one  lord, 
by  whom  are  all  things,  the  heavens  and  earth  and  all  their 
host,  and  we  by  him.  The  two  inspired  writers  give  us  the 
very  same  ideas. 

The  Redeemer  himself  explains  the  term  Elohim,  in  the 
same  manner  in  one  of  his  arguments  with  the  Jews,  when; 
he  asks — <*'If  he  called  them  Elohim,  (Gods)  to  whom- 

fl  Cor.  xv.  A7. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  65 

the  word  of  God  came,  say  ye  of  him,  whom  the  Father 
hath  sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world. — Thou  blasphemest, 
because  I  said — I  am  Elohim  (the  son  of  God)."*  This 
being  the  imp'ort  of  the  term  under  consideration,  Moses 
must  use  it  in  its  own  official  sense;  and  so  we  will' have 
Jehovah  and  Jehovah-ELOHiM ;  or  as  Paul  says — God 
and  Lord.  Hence  it  is  we  hear  of  the  voice  of  Jehovah- 
Elohim  ;  because  whenever  Jehovah,  by  the  assumption 
of  form,  shall  be  recognized  as  Elohim,  his  word  is  com- 
municated to  us  by  that  form,  as  his  ministerial  organ,  in 
the  same  way  that  the  form,  of  man  was  afterwards  his 
ministerial  organ.  And  hence  it  is  that  John,  instead 
of  using  the  hebrew  official  term  jEHOVAH-EiroHiM,  takes 
the  most  significant  greek  term  Logos,  or  Word. — But  to 
this  particular  illustration  we  shall  hereafter  return ;  and 
in  the  mean  time,  merely  remark,  that  the  term  Elohim 
is  used  in  reference  to  the  Creator  as  manifested  to  his 
creatures — to  the  Redeemer,  as  God  manifested  in  the  flesh 
— to  angels,  and  to  men,  as  secondary  agents  whereby  Je- 
hovah would  manifest  his  truth,  and  reveal  or  execute  his 
purposes.  Elohim  is  the  title  of  magistracy,  and  belongs 
to  the  official  organ,  by  which  God,  who  is  a  Spirit,  com- 
municates his  word,  or  will,  to  men. 

Our  discussion  conducted  thus  far,  has  enabled  us  dis- 
tinctly to  perceive  that  the  scriptural  representation  of  Je- 
hovah offers  to  our  consideration  Jehovah  and  Jehovah- 
Elohim,  or  one  God  and  one  Lord.  Such  has  been  the 
biblical  fact  from  the  beginning ;  and  such  it  is  now ; — 
equally  characteristic  of  creation  and  redemption.  Would 
it  not  be  difficult,  nay  impossible,  to  express  the  whole  of 
this  fact,  without  plural  nouns,  pronouns,  verbs  and  adjec- 
tives ?  Is  there  any  alternative,  except  it  shall  be  to  em- 
ploy more  nouns  than  one,  and  say,  Jehovah,  and  Jeho- 

*  See    Lecture    V.     John    x.    34,    35,    compared    with    Psalm 

LXXXII.  6. 


* 


6 


ffi  LECTURES  ON 

vah-ELOHiM,  or  God  and  Lord  ?  Such  is  in  truth  the  pro- 
per use  of  the  plural  form  of  a  word ;  it  saves  repetition, 
and  would  never  be  more  needed  than  in  an  infantile  state 
of  society  and  of  language,  when  words  couM  not  be  very 
numerous,  and  distinctions  could  not  be  very  minute. 

But  when  the  fact  is  thus  ascertained,  that  the  scriptures 
speak  so  freely  of  Jehovah  and  Jehovah-Elohim,  or  of  God 
and  Lord,  and  when  the  necessity  for  plural  words  so  im- 
mediately follows,  what  inference  shall  we  draw  ?  Are 
there  two  Gods  equal  to  each  other ;  or  one  supreme  God, 
and  another  subordinate  God  ?  By  no  means,  all  the  inspir- 
ed writers  would  reply.  There  is  no  truth  about  which  they 
are  more  positive,  than  that  there  is  but  one  God  ;  nor  any 
in  which  reason  would  more  promptly  or  entirely  sustain 
them.  Polvtheism  too,  as  it  has  existed  in  the  world,  has 
ever  given  the  rein  to  the  most  licentious  fancy,  degraded 
the  individual  character,  and  desolated  the  social  joys,  of 
man.  It  has  been  the  very  desecration  of  the  human  spirit, 
in  the  temple  where  Jehovah  has  called  it  to  minister  to  his 
glory. 

But  what  shall  we  do  with  this  scriptural  exhibition  of 
our  Creator  ?  Can  any  doctrine  of  trinity  be  more  perplex- 
ing than  this  duality  which  is  thus  demonstrably  asserted  in 
the  bible  ?  Jehovah,  Jehovah-Elohim,  and  Spirit,  are  not 
more  embarrassing  to  the  philosophic  moralist,  in  view  of  the 
unity  of  God,  than  Jehovah  and  Jehovah-Elohim,  or  Father 
and  Son,  are  :  nor  would  it  be  more  easy  to  explain  the  one 
mode  of  expression  than  the  other,  on  any  received  hypo- 
thesis. To  say  that  there  are  two  persons  in  one  case,  or 
three  persons  in  the  other,  is  only  to  change  the  terms  and 
keep  the  difficulty. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  that  in  human  nature  itself  there  is 
a  necessity-  for  a  manifestation  of  Jehovah  in  personal  form, 
if  the  preceding  argument  be  at  all  accurate  or  conclusive. 
If  man  cannot  perceive  spirit,  abstractedly  considered,  and 
if  God  be,  in  and  of  himself,  a  spirit,  then  either  God  must 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  67 

manifest  himself  to  us,  or  we  must  remain  entirely  ignorant 
of  him.  Suppose  that  Jehovah  should  manifest  himself 
in  personal  form,  according  to  the  condition  of  our  nature — 
would  we  not  speak  of  him  as  God,  and  God  manifested! 
In  this  second  view,  would  there  be  any  impropriety  in  the 
application  of  a  term,  or  a  title,  which  would  express  the 
object  of  that  manifestation,  or  the  relation  in  which  Je- 
hovah would  consequently  stand  to  us  ?  Suppose  that 
term,  or  title,  should  be  Lord  : — would  there  be  any  im- 
propriety in  the  phrase  God  and  Lord  ?  Would  the  phrase 
imply  that  there  are  two  gods,  or  two  persons  in  Godhead  ? 
Would  there  be  any  thing  difficult  or  abstruse  about  such  a 
use  of  terms,  under  such  circumstances  ?  Is  it  not  precise- 
ly what  our  nature  calls  for  ?  And  to  our  view,  who  are  in- 
formed that  God  is  a  spirit,  would  it  not  create  all  the  dis- 
tinction which,  after  all,  we  can  perceive  ? 

Suppose  still  farther  that,  amid  the  many  philosophic  or  re- 
ligious errors  which  have  been  taught  in  the  world,  it  should 
have  been  maintained,  that  there  had  been  many  such  mani- 
festations, and  that  these  had  been  proclaimed  to  us  as  so  ma- 
ny different  lords  ;  would  it  not  thereby  have  become  neces- 
sary to  inform  us  that  there  is  but  one  God  and  one  Lord  ;— 

ONE  INFINITE  SPIRIT,  AND  AN  APPROPRIATE  MANIFESTATION 

of  that  spirit  ?  Certain  it  is,  whether  the  explanatory 
suggestion  just  made,  be  correct  or  not-,  it  contains  the  very 
thing  that  human  beings  need ;  and  expresses  those  very 
peculiarities  which  are  ascribed  to  the  Lord.  He  does 
come  to  manifest  God  unto  us  ;  and  on  the  principles  of  law 
which  he  thus  announces,  are  we  governed.  He  is  an  image 
of  God  to  us:  he  is  our  king.  Under  these  two  distinct 
views  is  he  continually  represented,  in  both  the  old  and  new 
testaments.  Beyond  this  manifestation  of  Jehovah  we  can- 
not go.  Immediately,  on  making  the  attempt,  we  launch 
into  the  region  of  pure  spirit,  which  we  are  not  competent  to 
perceive  or  to  know.  Beyond  the  law,  thus  derived,  we 
have  no  duties:  and  any  discussion  of  moral   obligation 


68  LECTURES  ON 

which  would  carry  us  above  the  administration  of  this  en- 
throned Lord,  would  finally  plunge  us  into  mystery,  and 
leave  us  to  perish  amid  our  own  vain  conjectures  and  su- 
perstitious apprehensions. 

Thus  far,  it  appears  to  me,  that  our  way  is  clear,  and  the 
explanation  distinct  and  unobjectionable.  If  any  impor- 
tant particulars  are  supposed  to  have  been  left  unnoticed,  or 
not  to  have  been  exhibited  with  sufficient  variety  of  illus- 
tration, let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  I  have  merely  commen- 
ced the  discussion;  and  given  the  details  of  the  subject  in 
their  own  order,  as  they  liave  been  suggested  by  the  pro-  * 
gress  that  has  been  made.  Here  then  I  pause  for  the  pre- 
sent. 

May  God  give  us  "the  Spirit  of  power,  of  love,  and  of  a 
sound  mind,"  and  finally  bring  us  to  his  heavenly  glory, 
that  we  may  see  him  as  he  is. 


LECTURE   III. 


Jehovah- Elokim  or  Word — Two-fold  manifestation  of  God 
— -  Word  made  flesh — Form  of  God — Form  of  man — 
Name — Appearances  to  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob — 
To  Moses — Scriptural  statements  reconciled. 

Some  have  maintained  that,  in  the  Mosaic  system,  no- 
thing can  be  found  that  could  have  been  designed  to  exhi- 
bit in  its  purity  the  doctrine  of  a  Messiah,  or  even  to  pre- 
serve it  at  all.*  This  position  is  one  of  the  most  inaccurate, 
not  to  say  inconsiderate,  which  a  philosophic  moralist  could 
advance.  It  has  already  been  shown,  that  both  natural  and 
r.evealed  religion,  as  they  have  been  distinguished,  are  based 

*  Michaelis'  Com.  on  the  laws  of  Moses. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  69 

upon  the  constitution  of  human  nature ;  and  that  therefore 
the  doctrine  of  Jehovah  and  Jehovah-ELOHiM,  or  of  one 
God  and  one  Lord,  is  essentially  characteristic  of  both. 
Mankind  can  have  no  other  idea  of  Jehovah;  and  never 
have  attempted  to  advance  any  other,  without  winding  up 
their  speculations,  either  in  sheer  infidelity  or  fulsome  idol- 
atry. In  fact  Moses  appeared  in  the  midst  of  a  period 
when  the  world  had  lapsed  into  idol  worship  ;  and  was  pro- 
fessedly engaged  in  erecting  a  system  designed  to  restore 
to  the  earth  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  ;  i.  e.  of  Jeho- 
vah and  Jehovah-ELOHiM.  Hence  he  uses  the  plural 
noun  Elohim.  And  though,  in  common  with  other  official 
agents  whom  heaven  has  employed  to  proclaim  to  us  the 
truth,  he  states  a  double  view  even  of  this  doctrine  of  Jeho- 
vah, as  shall  presently  be  evinced;  yet,  while  his  legal 
economy  rests  on  the  primary  idea  of  God,  as  known  from 
the  beginning,  and  as  stated  in  these  three  chapters,  his 
whole  system  was  expressly  intended  to  lead  the  people  to 
the  Messiah.  "The  law,"  says  Paul,  "was  our  school- 
master, to  bring  us  unto  Christ;"*  i.  e.  Moses  was  officially 
occupied  in  teaching  to  mankind  the  elementary  principle  of 
God's  moral  government  among  men,  on  purpose  to  con- 
vince them  of  the  necessity  for  its  mediatorial  ajjjjlicalion. 
Or,  showing  the  peculiar  character  of  the  original  manifes- 
tation which  God  had  made  of  himself,  he  intended,  or  Je- 
hovah intended  by  him,  to  prepare  the  world  for  another 
manifestation  in  the  flesh  ;  which  is  the  sum  and  substance 
of  the  mediatorial  scheme. 

There  may  be  some  apparent  novelty  in  the  preceding 
statement.  The  idea  of  a  double  manifestation  of  Jehovah 
— designed  to  be  accommodated  to  our  intellectual  nature, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  our  holding  fellowship  with  him — r 
may  at  first  sight,  seem  to  be,  at  least,  exceedingly  equivo- 
cal.    Yet  the  fact  exists,  and  is  clearly  stated  in  the  scfip- 

*Gal.  iii.  24. 


70  LECTURES  ON 

tures.  It  has  been  overlooked,  and  a  great  deal  of  confusion 
has  resulted,  both  in  the  general  interpretation  of  the  scrip- 
tures, and  on  the  subject  of  the  trinity.  For,  as  has  alrea- 
dy been  remarked,  Christianity  has  been  represented  as  an 
original  system  ;  the  remedial  principle  has  not  been  clear- 
ly exhibited ;  the  argument  on  the  subject  of  Christ's  divini-> 
ty  has  been  very  defective ;  and  the  analogies  of  nature  com- 
mand little  confidence.  But  on  this  point,  something  more 
is  necessary  than  mere  assertion.  I  then  resume  the  analy- 
sis, and,  returning  to  the  records  which  Moses  has  furnished, 
call  your  attention  to  a  particular  circumstance  which  he 
has  stated,  and  to  its  general  illustration. 

In  the  third  chapter,  speaking  of  Adam  and  Eve,  after 
they  had  eaten  the  forbidden  fruit,  he  remarks — "They 
heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord  God," — Jehovah-Elohim  it  is 
in  the  hebrew — "walking:  in  the  garden  in  the  cool  of  the 
day."t  The  question  naturally  arises,  what  does  Moses 
mean  by  Jehovah-Elohim  ?"  And  to  many  it  may  seem 
to  be  a  question  that  can  be  very  easily  answered.  But 
perhaps  they  may  not  have  attended  to  it  very  closely,  and 
may  not  be  aware  of  its  general  bearing  on  the  moral  go- 
vernment of  God. 

Faber,  in  his  Horse  Mosaicce,  and  in  his  treatise  on  the 
three  dispensations,  considers  the  being,.thus  manifested,  to 
have  been  "the  anthropomorphic  Word ;"  or  a  corporeal  man- 
ifestation of  Jehovah — the  only  begotten  Son  in  human  form. 

Mr.  Scott  remarks  on  the  place — "Some  visible  tokens  of 
the  Lord's  presence,  'perhaps  in  human  form,  seem  here  in- 
timated, of  which  we  shall  hereafter  find  undeniable  instan- 
ces ;  and  which  should  be  considered  as  anticipations  of 
his  incarnation,  who  is  called  the  Word  of  God,  though  the 
word  rendered  walking  may  be  referred  to  the  voice,  and 
not  to  the  Lord." 

There  is  evidently  a  great  deal  of  indistinctness  in  the 
preceding  statements.     Perhaps,  says  Mr.  Scott,  in  hu- 

t  Gen.  iii.  8. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  71 

man  form.  Mr*  Faber  has  the  very  same  impression ;  the 
only  begotten  son  in  human  FORM,  he  says,  but  leaves 
the  whole  matter  very  obscure. 

Now,  it  appears  to  me,  that  the  firstdifficulty  with  which 
we  meet  in  an  investigation  like  the  present,  will  be  the 
cause  of  all  the  other  difficulties  which  may  follow :  and  that 
'our  great  effort  should  be,  to  remove  from  our  way  that 
which  first  involved  us  in  embarrassment.  I  therefore  de- 
ny that  Jehovah-Elohim,  whom  Adam  and  Eve  heard 
walking  in  the  garden,  was  the  "anthropomorphic  Word" — 
the  only  begotten  Son  in  human  form — or  the  Lord's  pre- 
sence in  human  form.  I  may  be  considered  to  be  exceed- 
ingly adventurous  :  but  the  following  argument  requires  that 
I  should  take  this  stand.  Let  my  reasons  be  carefully  ex- 
amined.    They  are  the  following: 

1.  Whoever  Jehovah-Elohim  was,  Adam  and  Eve,  it  is 
evident,  were  quite  familiar  with  his  voice.  They  knew 
his  voice  when  they  heard  his  approach  ;  and  betrayed  no 
fear,  but  that  which  necessarily  arose  from  their  knowledge 
of  his  character.  On  the  contrary  Adam  says, — "I  heard 
thy  voice  in  the  garden,  and  I  was  afraid,  because  I  was 
naked."  He  then  knew  the  voice  of  Jehovah-Elohim,  and 
the  reason  of  his  fear  was,  simply  that  he  was  naked.  Un- 
der other  circumstances  he  would  not  have  been  afraid. 

In  like  manner,  Jehovah-Elohim  refers  to  previous  in- 
tercourse, or  to  former  occasions  when  he  had  appeared. 
"Hast  thou  eaten  of  the  tree,  whereof  /commanded  thee 
that  thou  shouldst  not  eat?"  To  which  Adam  replies, — 
"The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to  be  with  me,  she  gave 
me  of  the  tree,  and  I  did  eat." 

If  by  Jehovah-Elohim  we  are  here  to  understand  the  an- 
thropomorphic Word,  or  an  appearance  in  anticipation  of 
his  incarnation,  it  will  certainly  follow  that  every  previous 
appearance  was  perfectly  similar  in  its  character.  The 
^Creator,  as  such,  was  then  not  revealed  or  manifested  in 
personal  form  to  Adam  at  all,  on  this  hypothesis ;  nor  was 


72  LECTURES  ON 

there  any  manifestation  which  would  have  correspond- 
ed with  his  unsinning  obedience  to  the  law.  As  a  matter 
of  course,  he  must  fall,  and  so  one  half  of  the  divine  con- 
stitution is  left  entirely  out  of  view.  For,  supposing  that 
Adam  had  kept  the  law,  would  there  have  been  no  personal 
intercourse  between  him  and  his  Maker  ?  Or  would  that  in- 
tercourse have  rested  on  mediatorial  principles? — Most  as- 
suredly there  must  have  been  a  distinct  manifestation,  which 
Jehovah  made  of  himself,  to  our  first  parents  ;  and  which 
was  suitable  to  their  condition  in  their  original  probation, 
or  as  being  under  law,  and  not  under  gospel.  And  when 
Moses  undertakes  to  give  an  historical  sketch  of  these  early 
transactions,  his  reference  must  be  to  that  first  manifesta- 
tion ;  nor  could  any  thing  be  known  of  the  second,  until  the 
promise  of  "the  Seed  of  the  woman"  was  given.  Hence 
it  is  that  he  uses  the  official  title  Jehovah-Elohim,  which 
sounds  so  strange  to  our  ears,  because  theologians  have  not 
used  scriptural  language.  Any  other  exposition  would  be 
a  mere  supralapsarian  subterfuge,  which  would  involve  the 
divine  proceedings  in  the  grossest  inconsistency. 

2.  The  supposition,  that  by  Jehovah-Elohim  we  are  to 
understand  the  anthropomorphic  Word,  i.  e.  an  appearance 
in  human  form,  and  in  anticipation  of  his  coming  in  the 
flesh,  would  be  a  burlesque  on  the  judicial  character  he  as- 
sumes. For  such  an  appearance  would  proceed  upon  the 
fact  that  Adam  had  sinned :  whereas  that  was  the  question 
to  be  tried.  "Who  told  thee,"  said  the  Lardj  "that  thou 
wast  naked  ?  Hast  thou  eaten  of  the  tree  whereof  I  com- 
manded thee  that  thou  shouldst  not  eat?"  These  hasty 
judgments,  these  decrees  of  condemnation,  laid'  up  amid 
the  councils  of  eternity,  from  which  there  is  no  escape,  and 
of  which  we  hear  so  much,  may  suit  the  abstractions  of 
some  sectarian  theologues;  but  they  belong  not  to  the  ju- 
dicial policy  which  the  scriptures  have  acknowledged.  God 
does  nothing  on  arbitrary  principles ;  nor  does  he  govern  us 
by  laws,  or  condemn  us  by  sentences,  which  are  beyond 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  73 

eur  comprehension.  The  very  reason  why  he  manifests 
himself  in  personal  form  is,  that  whatever  may  be  interest- 
ing to  us  in  his  character  and  proceedings,  shall  be  brought 
within  the  range  of  our  perceptions.  Take  as  an  example, 
in  which  the  remarks  just  made  are  unequivocally  sustained, 
the  conversation  which  Jehovah  had  with  Abraham  before 
the  destruction  of  Sodom :  "Because  the  cry  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  is  great,  and  because  their  sin  is  very  grievous,  I 
will  go  down  now  and  see  whether  they  have  done  altogether 
according  to  the  cry  of  it,  which  has  come  unto  me  ;  and 
if  not  /  will  know.  If  I  find  fifty  righteous  men — if  I  find 
forty  and  five — if  I ^md  thirty — I  will  not  destroy  the  city."* 
Take  away  from  us  this  view  of  the  divine  administration, 
and  there  may  be  justice  in  it;  but  there  is  no  possibility  that 
we  should  perceive  its  justice.  Evidently  the  hypothesis, 
which  has  been  commonly  received,  throws  away,  as  un- 
worthy of  the  slightest  attention,  the  whole  individuality  of 
man  ;  or  exchanges  it  for  some  inconceivable  abstraction, 
with  which  it  is  no  intention  of  our  heavenly  Father  to  tor- 
ture our  little  faculties.  Theologians  have  thus  inconsider- 
ately  abandoned  personal  responsibility  at  the  outset. 

3.  The  indistinctness  with  which  the  terms — Voice  and 
Jehovah-Elohim — have  been  presented  to  the  christian 
mind,  is  the  cause  of  all  the  embarrassment  that  has  existed 
on  the  subject  of  the  trinity.  For,  finding  that  the  Logod 
or  Word  was  known  from  the  beginning ;  taking  the  term 
Logos  (Word)  as  equivalent  with  Voice,  instead  of  ex- 
changing it  for  Jehovah-Elohim  ;  and  discovering  that  by 
the  Logos  all  things  were  made,  and  that  the  divine  distinc- 
tion,  expressed  by  the  term  trinity,  existed  before  the  incar- 
nation ;  it  has  been  confidently  affirmed  that  this  distinction 
belongs  to  the  divine  essence ;  and,  moreover,  that  as  Fa- 
ther, Son,  and  Holy  Spirit  ore  the  peculiar  terms  expressive 
of  that  distinction,  as  it  is  precisely  stated  to  us  in  the  new 

♦Gen.xviii.  20—33. 
Vol.  I.— 7 


74  LECTURES  ON 

testament,  then  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit  exist  in  the 
divine  essence.  Hence  the  doctrine  of  three  portions,  or 
three  substances,  or  three  persons,  in  the  divine  nature. 
Hence  also  the  doctrine  of  the  eternal  generation  of  the 
Son,  and  the  eternal  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  These 
doctrines,  while  their  own  advocates  do  not  pretend  to  ex- 
plain them,  have  ever  been  the  occasion  of  irreconcilable 
controversies.  But  if  Elohim  is  only  in  a  first  manifesta- 
tion of  God,  what  the  Son  is  in  the  second,  the  subject  of 
Godhead,  or  rather  the  embarrassment  which  theologians 
have  felt  in  relation  to  that  subject,  is  greatly  relieved.  For 
then  they  would  be  under  no  necessity  to  run  up  their  specu- 
lations so  high;  or  to  infer,  from  the  previous  existence 
which  is  ascribed  to  the  Word,  that  a  threefold  distinction  is 
predicated  of  the  divine  essence  itself.  The  distinction 
would  result  from,  and  be  characteristic  of,  the  manifesta- 
tion which  Jehovah  made  of  himself  at  first,  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  intercourse  with  man ;  which  manifestation  is  called 
Jehovah-Elohim.  And  thus  a  very  little  reflection  or  scrip- 
tural research,  I  conceive,  would  make  the  whole  matter  as 
intelligible  to  us,  as  any  other  part  of  divine  revelation. 

4.  The  apostle  John,  referring  to  these  very  transactions 
of  which  Moses  writes,  observes — "In  the  beginning  the 
Word  was,  or  subsisted,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and 
the  Word  was  God; — all  things  were  made  by  him,  and 
without  him  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made."  Of 
course  the  Word  of  which  John  speaks,  and  Jehovah-Elo- 
him of  which  Moses  speaks,  are  identical.  But  the  Word, 
according  to  both,  was  not  man,  but  was  God.  After- 
wards, the  apostle  continues;  "The  Word  was  made 
flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us."  This  quotation  appears  to 
me  to  afford  positive  and  decisive  testimony  in  favor  of  the 
doctrine  advanced  ;  i.  e.  that  there  have  been  two  distinct 
manifestations,  in  which  God  has  exhibited  himself  to  man- 
kind— Jehovah-Elohim  and  the  Word  made  flesh — both 
equally  resulting  from  the  constitution  of  human  nature ; 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  75 

and  suited,  the  one  to  man  as  he  was  originally  created,  and 
the  other  to  man  as  he  is  a  sinner.  They  seem  to  be  so  pre- 
cisely analogous,  that  the  mind  which  recognizes  the  truth 
of  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  fall,  and  perceives  the  proprie- 
ty of,  and  the  necessity  for,  the  one,  can  be  at  no  great  loss 
to  perceive  the  propriety  of,  and  the  necessity  for,  the  other; 
but  will  sensibly  feel,  that  if  either  be  scriptural  or  rational, 
the  other  must  be  equally  so.  The  christian  will  thus  have 
the  divinity  of  his  Saviour  demonstrated;  while  the  dissent- 
er on  that  subject  will  have  a  new  and  difficult  task  thrown 
Into  his  hand,  in  an  attempt  to  perform  which  he  may  pos- 
sibly be  convinced  of  his  palpable  and  mischievous  error. 

5.  The  apostle  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to  the  philippians,  star- 
tles us  by  making  a  similar  statement  Speaking  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  he  describes  him  thus:  "  Who,  being  in  the 
form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God ; 
but  made  himself  of  no  reputation;  divested  or  emptied  him- 
self, and  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made 
in  the  likeness  of  men."*  Here  we  have  this  double  exhi- 
bition again, — the  form  of  God,  and  the  likeness  of 
men  ;  nor  only  so,  but  Christ  Jesus  is  represented  as  divest- 
ing himself  of  one  form,  and  taking  upon  him  the  other. 
At  the  same  time  it  must  be  evident  to  every  one,  that  the 
form  of  God  does  not  mean  the  essence  of  God,  seeing 
that  Christ  could  not  divest  himself  of  the  divine  essence. 
There  is  then  a  form  of  God,  and  there  is  a  likeness  of  men, 
in  which  God  has  exhibited  himself  to  human  view ; — in 
other  words,  there  have  been  two  distinct  manifestations  of 
Jehovah ;  and  Moses  is  referring  to  the  first  when  he  tells 
us  of  Jehovah- Elohim  walking  in  the  garden,  and  of  our 
first  parents'  hearing  his  voice. 

6.  The  apostle  John,  whom  we  have  already  quoted  as 
furnishing  us  with  very  clear  testimony  on  this  point,  fur- 
ther remarks;  "No  man  hath  seen  God  at  anytime;  the 

^Ch,ii,6,8. 


76      '  LECTURES  ON 

/■ 

only  begotten  Son  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he 
hath  declared  him  :"*  and  again  in  one  of  his  epistles,  "No 
man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time."!  He  also  represents  the 
Redeemer  as  observing — "The  Father  himself,  which  hath 
sent  me,  hath  borne  witness  of  me.  Ye  have  neither  heard 
his  voice  at  any  time,  nor  seen  his  shape,  or  form,  or  visible 
appearance. "t  "Not  that  any  man  hath  seen  the  Father, 
save  he  which  is  of  God,  he  hath  seen  the  Father." §  "  He 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father." ||  These  declara- 
tions or  expressions  may  be  compared  with  another  remark 
Matthew  reports  him  to  have  made,  when  speaking  of  his 
"little  ones :"  "  Their  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of 
my  Father  which  is  in  Heaven."^  These  varying  phrases 
and  differing  statements  may  be  readily  reconciled  upon  the 
principle  of  a  twofold  manifestation ;  particularly  when  the 
subsequent  references  to  the  old  testament  shall  be  duly 
considered.  But  the  allusion  to  form,  other  than  that  which 
is  mediatorial,  is  too  frequent  and  striking  to  be  explained 
in  any  other  way. 

7.  When  the  ceremonial  institutions  of  the  former  dis- 
pensation were  in  the  progress  of  their  proclamation,  a  very 
singular  interview  between  God  and  Moses  is  described. 
Moses  prefers  the  following  petition :  "I  beseech  thee,  show 
me  thy  glory."  To  this,  perhaps,  inconsiderate  prayer,  God 
answers;  "I  will  make  all  my  goodness  pass  before  thee, 
and  I  will  proclaim  the  name  of  Jehovah."  "Thou  canst 
not  see  my  face,  for  there  shall  no  man  see  me  and  live.  And 
the  Lord  said,  behold  there  is  a  place  by  me,  and  thou  shalt 
stand  upon  a  rock,  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  while  my  glory 
passeth  by,  that  I  will  put  thee  in  a  cleft  of  the  rock,  and 
will  cover  thee  with  my  hand  while  I  pass  by ;  and  I  will 
take  away  my  hand  and  thou  shalt  see  my  back  parts,  but  my 
face  shall  not  be  seen."**     In  the  book  of  Numbers  also. 

*  John  i.  IS.         t  1  John  iv.  12.       %  John  v.  37.       §  Ch.  vi.  46. 
||  Ch.  xiv,  9.        IT  Mat.  xviii.  10.     **  Exod.  xxxiii.  18,  20—23. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  77 

when  Aaron  and  Miriam  had  spoken  against  Moses,  Jeho- 
vah appears  in  behalf  of  his  servant,  declaring:  "With 
him  will  I  speak  mouth  to  mouth,  even  apparently,  and  not 
in  dark  speeches,  and  .the  similitude  of  Jehovah  shall  he  be- 
hold." Here  then  again  we  have  the  similitude  or  form. 
not  of  man,  but  of  Jehovah — i.  e.  Jehovah-ELOHiM;  I  say 
not  the  form  of  man,  because  God  says  to  Moses—  Thou  canst 
not  see  my  face;  for  there  shall  no  man  see  me  and  live. 

In  connexion  with  the  preceding  facts,  two  or  three  others 
are  recorded  which  seem  to  be  of  a  totally  different  charac- 
ter. It  is  said  that  Jehovah  appeared  to  Abraham  and  con- 
versed with  him,  yet  Abraham  did  not  die.  Jacob  also,  be- 
fore he  had  met  with  Esau  on  his  return  to  his  own  country, 
called  the  name  of  a  particular  place  Peniel  ;  observing,  I 
have  seen  God  face  to  face,  and  my  life  is  preserved.*  Thus 
then  God  was  seen.  But  in  both  of  these  cases  he  appear- 
ed in  the  form  of  a  man,  as  the  history  explicitly  states ;  for; 
as  "the  gospel  was  preached  beforehand  to  them,"  the  di- 
vine appearance  was  necessarily  mediatorial  in  its  character. 

We  have  then  again  this  double  manifestation  of  Jeho- 
vah  very  clearly  asserted  ;  nor  only  so,  but  Moses  is  placed 
in  circumstances  which  distinguish  him  as  an  official  man 
from  all  other  men.  The  occasion  had  some  peculiarity 
about  it,  which  belonged  exclusively  to  itself,  or  to  no  other 
period  which  has  transpired  since  the  fall.  Accordingly  in 
his  charge  to  the  people  he  so  speaks  of  it:  "  For  ask  now 
of  the  days  that  are  past,  which  were  before  thee,  since  the 
day  that  God  created  man  on  the  earth,  and  ask  from  the 
one  side  of  heaven  unto  the  other,  whether  there  has  been 
any  such  thing  as  this  great  thing  is,  or  hath  been  heard  like 
it  ?  Did  ever  people  hear  the  voice  of  Elohim  speaking 
out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  as  thou  hast  heard,  and  live?"t 
And  what  was  the  peculiarity?  We  know  of  none  other 
than  that  the  Sinai  covenant  was  a  dispensation  of  law.   Its 

*  Gen.  xxxii.  24—32.  f  Deut.  iv.  32,  33. 


78  LECTURES  ON 

principles  were,  do  and  live  ; — transgress  and  die.  Now 
it  is  evident  that  the  very  same  thing  was  promulgated  to 
Adam  before  the  fall,  and  constituted  the  great  character- 
istic of  his  original  probation.  As,  therefore,  Jehovah  was 
now  reviving  the  principle  of  law,  as  it  is  distinguished 
from  that  of  gospel,  which  belongs  to  the  christian  dispen- 
sation ;  he  appeared  in  the  character  of  lawgiver,  and 
not  of  mediator  ;  in  the  form  of  Jehovah,  and  not  in  the 
form  of  man  ;  and  hence  it  was,  that  he  spake  from  the 
midst  of  fire,  which  was  in  regard  of  the  first  manifesta- 
tion his  appropriate  emblem ;  for  Paul  says,  when  writing 
to  the  Jews,  "Our  God  is  a  consuming  fire."  The  pro- 
priety of  this  view  would  fully  appear,  if  the  nature,  design 
and  operation,  of  the  two  dispensations  were  fully  under- 
stood.   It  will  devolve  upon  us  to  look  at  them  hereafter. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  appearances  to  Abraham  and 
Jacob  were  purely  mediatorial.  The  law  was  not  given  to 
these  patriarchs.  On  the  contrary,  Paul  assures  us  that, 
"  the  scripture  foreseeing  that  God  would  justify  the  heathen 
through  faith,  preached  the  gospel  before  to  Abraham,  say- 
ing, in  thee  shall  all  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed. "*  The 
reason  of  this  also  will  hereafter  be  considered.  In  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Sinai  covenant  we  have  something  anal- 
ogous to  the  original  institute  given  to  Adam ;  and  in  the 
Abrahamic  covenant  a  repetition  of  the  subsequent  pro- 
mise— "  the  Seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  head  of 
the  serpent."  And  with  the  two,  the  double  manifestation 
of  Jehovah  precisely  corresponds. 

On  a  particular  occasion  God  is  represented  as  speaking 
unto  Moses  in  the  following  manner: — "I  appeared  unto 
Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  by  the  name  of  Al- 
mighty God  ;  but  by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known 
unto  them."t  This  seems  to  be  exceedingly  singular  lan- 
guage, to  any  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  previous  history : 

*  Gal.  iii.  8.  t  Exod.  vi.  3. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  79 

for  the  word  Jehovah  occurs  in  it,  with  great  frequency, 
not  simply  as  an  epithet  which  the  superior  knowledge  of 
the  historian  enabled  him  to  employ,  but  it  is  used  by  the 
very  individuals  who,  according  to  the  text,  we  might  has- 
tily suppose,  were  entirely  ignorant  of  it.  For  example : 
while  Abraham  was  on  the  mount,  whither  he  had  been 
called  to  offer  his  son  in  sacrifice,  and  after  the  solemn  cere- 
monies of  that  interesting  scene  were  over,  he  called  the 
name  of  the  place  jehovah-jireh.  Critics  have  found 
considerable  difficulty  in  adjusting  the  seemingly  contra- 
dictory statements. 

It  is  farther  evident  from  the  observation  of  Eleazar — 
"Blessed  be  Jehovah- Elohim  of  my  master  Abraham" — 
that  Abraham  knew  this  peculiar  title  which  Moses  uses  in 
two  of  the  chapters  before  us.  By  this,  I  should  suppose. 
we  are  to  understand  that  Abraham  knew  that  Jehovah- 
Elohim,  who  was  in  the  beginning,  appeared  to  him  in  the 
form  of  a  man;  in  the  same  way  that  the  new  testament 
disciple  knows,  that  the  Word,  which  was  in  the  beginning. 
has  been  "made  flesh."  It  would  be  then  equally  true, 
that  Abraham  no  more  saw  Jehovah-Elohim  in  his  own  pro- 
per person,  than  the  new  testament  disciple  saw  the  Father. 
The  declaration — I  am  Almighty  God — would  be  equiva- 
lent with  the  declaration — "The  Father  is  in  me,-  and  I  am 
in  the  Father,"  or  with  this — "  All  power  in  heaven  and  in 
earth  is  given  unto  me." 

Dr.  Shuckford  considers  the  translation  of  the  passage 
before  us  to  be  faulty;  and  observes,  that  the  "best  and 
most  accurate  writers  have  remarked  on  the  place,  that  the 
latter  part  of  the  verse  should  be  used  interrogatively,  thus  : 
By  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  unto  them?"*  It 
is  the  more  objectionable,  that  this  author  should  have  so 
readily  and  entirely  adopted  this  explanation ;  because,  he 
himself  observes — "  That  it  is  remarkable,  from  the  writings 

*  Shuckford's  Connexions,  vol.  2,  p.  400,. 


80  LECTURES  ON 

of  Moses,  that  there  were  two  different  and  distinct  per- 
sons known  and  worshipped  by  the  faithful  from  the  days 
of  Abraham ;  God  whom  no  man  hath  seen  at  any  time, 
and  the  Lord  who  at  divers  times  appeared  unto  them.  The 
Lord  who  appeared  to  them  is  allowed  by  the  best  and 
most  judicious  writers,  to  have  been  the  same  divine  per- 
son who  afterwards  took  upon  him  the  seed  of  Abraham, 
and  was  made  man,  and  dwelt  among  the  Jews."* 

In  correspondence  with  the  observations  made  by  Dr. 
Shuckford,  Dr.  Watts  remarks — "Trypho,  the  jew,  in  his 
dialogue  with  Justin  Martyr,  maintains  that  there  were  two 
present  in  the  appearance  made  to  Moses  in  the  burning 
bush,  viz :  God  and  an  Angel  ;  that  the  angel  appeared  in 
the  flame  of  fire,  and  that  God  in  the  Angel  spake  with 
Moses."  To  which  Justin  replies,  that  that  may  very  well 
be  granted  according  to  the  christian  doctrine.  And  indeed 
Trypho' s  opinion  seems  to  have  been  generally  received  and 
approved  amongst  the  more  ancient  jews;  for  Stephen 
teaches  us,  'twas  an  angel  who  appeared  to  Moses  in  the 
bush,  yet  that  God  himself  spake  these  words  to  Moses — 
"  I  am  the  God  of  thy  fathers."! 

Bishop  Warburton  gives  a  different  interpretation.  He 
observes  that — "The  religion  of  names  arose  from  an  idol- 
atrous polytheism,"  and  that  on  the  part  of  Jehovah,  a  "com- 
pliance with  the  religion  of  names  was  a  new  indulgence 
to  the  prejudices  of  the  Jews,  as  is  evident  from  the  fol- 
owing  words :  And  God  spake  unto  Moses,  and  said  unto 
him,  I  am  the  Lord:  and  I  appeared  nnto  Abraham,  unto 
Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  by  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  but 
by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them.  That  is, 
as  the  God  of  Abraham,  I  before  condescended  to  have  a 
name  of  distinction:  but  now,  in  compliance  to  another 
prejudice,  I  condescend  to  have  a  name  of  honour.  This 
seems  to  be  the  true  interpretation  of  this  very  difficult  text, 

*  Vol.  2.  pp,.  401—2, 

t Watts'  Glory  of  Christ  Dis.  1.  sec.  1.  Justin  Martyr  lived  in  the 
second  century. . 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  81 

about  which  the  commentators  have  so  much  perplexed 
themselves."* 

It  is  very  evident  to  an  attentive  observer,  that  both  the 
difficulty  and  the  explanation  arise  from  considering  the 
term  name  to  refer  to  the  mere  word  Jehovah  ;  which 
reference  would  be  the  more  readily  made  by  the  reader 
of  our  English  version,  because  it  represents  Jehovah  as 
saying,  in  the  first  clause  of  the  text, — "  I  appeared  by  the 
name  of  Almighty  God."  Indeed  our  translators  have  ital- 
icised the  words  which  are  not  in  the  original,  intending 
thereby  to  admonish  us  of  the  fact.  But  might  they  not, 
when  seeking  for  explanatory  terms,  with  equal  propriety 
have  rendered Nthe  passage  thus — "I  appeared  in  the  form 
of  Almighty  God" — or  as  Almighty  God?  An  appear- 
ance is  spoken  of,  and  that  must  have  been  in  form  of  some 
kind :  and  the  history  of  the  facts  reports  it  to  have  been 
in  the  form  of  a  man. 

The  term  name  means  the  representative  of  a  being  or 
thing.  TJius  it  was  accordingly  used.  So  God  speaks  of 
the  angel  that  went  up  before  his  people — my  name  is  in 
hirnA  So  also  in  later  times  he  spake  by  his  prophets,  con- 
cerning his  people  and  their  habitation — "  I  will  bring  them 
unto  the  place  that  I  have  chosen  to  set  my  name  there." t 
In  like  manner  baptism  is  now  administered,  not  in  the 
names  oi,  but  in  the  name  of,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit. 
Name  is  therefore  a  term  particularly  referring  to  some  ex- 
ternal manifestation  which  Jehovah  makes  of  himself.  The 
meaning  of  the  passage  then  would  be  this — "  God  appear- 
ed to  Abraham,  to  Isaac  and  to  Jacob,  in  the  form  of,  or 
manifested  as,  Almighty  God,  which  was  the  form  of  man  : 
but  in  the  form  of  Jehovah,  which  Paul  tells  us  was  the 
form  of  God,  he  was  not  known  unto,  or  perceived  by, 
them.     The  ideas  conveyed  are  precisely  those  which  have 

*  Div.  Leg.  of  Moses,  vol.  2,  p.  287,  B.  4,  sec.  6. 
t  Exod.  xxiii.  21.  %  Neh.  i.  9. 


82  LECTURES  ON 

already  been  noticed,  in  the  apparently  contradictory 
phrases — "  I  have  seen  God  face  to  face,"  and — "  no  man 
can  see  my  face  and  live."  The  whole  is  perfectly  plain 
upon  the  principle  of  a  double  manifestation  of  God. 

This  interpretation  of  the  text  which  has  been  quoted  is 
confirmed  by  the  accompanying  circumstances,  and  I  would 
paraphrase  it  in  the  following  manner: — In  the  form  of 
man  I  did  appear  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac  and  to  Jacob,  but 
in  the  form  of  Jehovah  I  never  was  manifested  unto  them. 
But  now  I  will  manifest  myself  to  thee  in  the  form  of  Je- 
hovah. It  is  my  purpose  by  thy  ministry  to  bring  the  people 
out  of  Egypt,  and  to  put  them  in  a  peculiar  relation  to  my- 
self, as  my  elect  people,  and  to  do  among  them  such  things,. 
as  well  as  to  display  myself  among  them  in  such  a  manner, 
as  no  other  nation  has  ever  witnessed.  In  the  form  of  Je- 
hovah, or  as  Jehovah-Elohim,  I  will  deliver  to  them  the 
law  ;  that  they,  being  placed  under  it,  and  by  its  oppressive 
operation  being  shut  up  to  the  faith  of  a  Mediator,  may  be 
a  standing  monument  to  ail  nations,  that  no  man  can  be 
saved  by  the  works  of  the  law. 

8.  The  last  circumstance  which  I  shall  notice  in  proof  of 
this  double  manifestation  of  God,  is  derived  from  the  con-, 
versation  which  Satan  is  reported  to  have  held  with  Eve. 
The  adversary  does  not  appear  accurately  to  have  under- 
stood the  moral  position  which  our  first  parents  occupied  in 
paradise  :— at  least  Eve  felt  herself  to  be  under  a  necessity 
to  explain,  after  hearing  his  remark.  Yet  he  makes  no  mis- 
take in  speaking  of  God  himself;  for  he  denominates  him 
the  Elohim,  just  as  Moses  does.  How  should  he  be  com- 
petent to  express  himself  with  so  much  exactness  in  the 
one  case,  and  under  such  apparent  embarrassment  in  the 
other  ? 

The  whole  subject  of  angelic  agency,  many  theologians 
hold  as  an  exceedingly  equivocal  matter.  Why  they  should 
thus  discard  from  their  consideration  an  interesting  analogy, 
derived  from  the  intellectual  world  in  illustration  of  moral 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  83 

science,  it  may  not  be  worth  while,  at  present,  to  inquire. 
If  God  has  created  one  race  of  intellectual  beings,  there  is 
nothing  unphilosophical  in  the  idea  that  he  should  have 
created  another.  If  the  animal  and  mineral  worlds  are  full 
of  varieties,  there  is  no  unanswerable  argument  against 
like  varieties  existing  in  the  intellectual  world.  And  if 
sin  is  discovered  in  one  part  of  God's  intellectual  empire, 
there  is  nothing  so  exceedingly  repulsive,  as  some  men  af- 
fect to  consider  it,  in  the  supposition  that  sin  may  be  found 
in  some  other  part  of  his  intellectual  empire.  "He,"  as 
Mr.  Locke  observes,  "  that  will  not  set  himself  proudly  at 
the  top  of  all  things,  but  will  consider  the  immensity  of 
this  fabric,  and  the  great  variety  that  is  to  be  found  in  this 
little  and  iuconsiderable  part  of  it  which  he  has  to  do  with, 
may  be  apt  to  think,  that  in  other  mansions  of  it  there  may 
be  other  and  intelligent  beings,  of  whose  faculties  he  has 
as  little  knowledge  or  apprehension,  as  a  worm  shut  up  in 
one  drawer  of  a  cabinet  hath  of  the  sinews  or  understand- 
ing of  a  man,  such  variety  and  excellency  being  suitable  to 
the  wisdom  and  power  of  the  maker."*  Accordingly  Moses 
introduces  Satan  to  our  notice,  not  only  as  using  a  common 
term  with  himself  in  designating  Jehovah,  but  as  speaking 
with  perfect  familiarity  on  the  subject  of  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil,  to  which  Jehovah-Elohim  afterwards  refers, 
as  actually  belonging  to  other  parts  of  his  dominion : — 
"  Behold,"  says  he,  "the  man  has  become  as  one  of  us,  to 
know  good  and  evil"  The  Redeemer  too  has  explicitly 
informed  us,  that  in  the  resurrection,  when  all  the  natural 
relations  are  done  away,  we  shall  be  like  the  angels.  There 
is  then  a  similitude  between  these  higher  orders  of  intel- 
lectual beings  and  ourselves.  The  point  of  dissimilarity 
between  us  appears  to  consist  in  the  natural  relations  which 
distinguish  our  present  mode  of  existence,  and  belong  not 
to  them  ;  and  of  course,  in  their  not  having  been  placed 

*  B.  II.  ch.  2,  sec,  3. 


84  LECTURES  ON 

under  any  thing  like  that  form  of  political  government 
which  has  been  called  federal  representation.  They  seem 
to  stand  simply  on  their  personal  responsibility  ;  hence  all 
of  them  have  not  fallen.  Some  have  rebelled,  while 
others  have  retained  their  integrity.  And  it  would  be  very 
difficult  to  assign  any  philosophical  reason,  why  we  should 
not  take  the  deepest  interest  in  contemplating  and  under- 
standing this  mode  of  intellectual  and  moral  existence. 
But  if  this  analogy  can  be  thus  traced,  both  scripturally  and 
rationally,  the  reason  why  Satan  uses  the  term  Elohi?n  is 
very  apparent ;  for  then  there  is  a  manifestation  which  God 
makes  of  himself  to  them,  as  well  as  to  us.  This  cannot 
be  supposed  to  be  in  the  form  of  man.  Of  course,  there 
is  a  double  manifestation  of  Jehovah,  agreeably  to  the  doc- 
trine I  have  advanced.  In  fact,  singular  as  the  circum- 
stance may  seem,  we  find  that  the  angels  were  themselves 
called  Elohim.  Satan  could  therefore  use  the  term  intel- 
ligently. 

Hence,  in  the  book  of  Job,  Satan  and  the  sons  of  God 
are  represented  as  presenting  themselves  before  the  lord. 
The  occurrence  is  stated  to  have  taken  place  on  a  certain 
day;  to  have  been  repeated  on  a  subsequent  and  similar 
occasion  ;  and  the  incidents  are  described  with  considera- 
ble minuteness.  The  whole  scene,  in  view  of  the  phrase- 
ology employed,  is  very  much  like  that  drawn  out  in  the 
fourth  chapter  of  Genesis,  where  Cain  and  Abel  appeared 
at  the  door  of  the  antediluvian  tabernacle,  within  which 
were  the  cherubim  of  glory — the  emblem  of  the  invisible 
God. 

Isaiah  also  with  most  thrilling  interest  depicts  a  vision 
with  which  he  was  favored  in  the  year  that  king  Uzziah 
died,  when  he  says,  "  I  saw  the  lord  sitting  on  a  throne, 
high  and  lifted  up,  and  his  train  filled  the  everlasting  tem- 
ple. Above  it,"  he  continues,  "  stood  the  seraphim ;  each 
one  had  six  wings ;  with  twain  he  covered  his  face,  and 
with  twain  he  covered  his  feet,  and  with  twain  he  did  fly. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  85 

And  one  cried  unto  another,  and  said,  holy,  holy,  holy  is 
Jehovah  of  hosts  ;  the  whole  earth  is  full  of  his  glory. 
And  the  posts  of  the  door  moved  at  the  voice  of  him  that 
cried,  and  the  house  was  filled  with  smoke.  Then  said  I, 
wo  is  me,  for  I  am  undone,  because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean 
lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips  ; 
for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  king,  Jehovah  of  hosts."* 

In  like  manner  Jesus  says,  speaking  of  his  "little  ones," 
— "  their  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  my  father 
which  is  in  heaven. 

Surely  the  testimony  of  a  twofold  manifestation  in  ex- 
ternal form,  which  Jehovah  has  afforded  of  himself — the 
one  in  the  form  of  God,  or  as  Jehovdh-Elohim,  and  suit- 
ed to  man  in  his  state  of  innocence,  as  well  as  to  angels  in 
heaven;  and  the  other  in  the  form  of  man,  or  as  the  Word 
made  flesh,  suited  to  us  in  our  state  of  sin — is  clear  and 
undeniable.  According  to  the  usual  ideas  of  the  trinity, 
what  can  theologians  do  with  the  fact  ? 

But  after  all,  you  may,  perhaps,  inquire  what  this  mani- 
festation  was  ?  It  has  been  supposed  that  the  Word,  or  Son, 
was  the  second  person  of  the  trinity,  and  that,  in  the  rela- 
tions between  God  and  his  intelligent  creatures,  established 
by  the  personal  exhibition  contemplated,  the' second  person 
is  the  representative  of  the  whole  deity.  Sabellius,  in  pre- 
ferring to  say,  a  certain  portion,  or  energy,  advocates  essen- 
tially the  same  view,  and  merely  changes  the  term.  Arius 
violently  breaks  away  from  the  whole  subject,  and  talks 
about  a  lesser  god  ;  thus  teaching  the  doctrine  of  two  gods, 
while  he  complains  of  his  opponents  because  they  taught 
that  of  three. 

The  heavens  and  the  earth  are  said  to  be  a  manifestation 
of  Jehovah,  in  which  his  character  is  displayed  with  great 
beauty  and  brilliance.  Whom  do  they  manifest  ?  The  second 
person  of  the  trinity — or  God  himself ?  Certainly  the  scrip- 

*  Isaiah  vi.  1,  5. 
Vol.  I.— 8 


86  LECTURES  ON 

tures  do  assure  us  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were 
framed  by  the  Word  of  God.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  faith 
which  they  teach.  But,  at  the  same  time,  do  they  not  as 
clearly  assert,  that  the  Godhead  is  thereby  set  forth  to  our 
view? — "  The  invisible  things  of  him  are  clearly  seen  by 
the  things  which  are  made — even  his  eternal  power  and  God- 
head J  ' 

In  like  manner,  we  are  informed  that  in  Christ  Jesus 
"  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."*  A  dis- 
tinction, a  portion,  a  person,  separate  from  other  portions  or 
persons,  as  belonging  to  Godhead,  is  not  even  hinted  at. 
Jill  the  Godhead — all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead — dwell- 
eth in  him  bodily.  Any  distinction  which  is  supposed, 
subsists  merely  between  God  himself  and  the  bodily  resi- 
dence in  which  he  dwells.  And  any  other  view,  his  apos- 
tle would  inform  us,  is  mere  ''philosophy  and  vain  deceit, 
after  the  tradition  of  men/'* 

Again — Christ  is  said  to  be  the  image  of  God] — the 
image  of  the  invisible  GodX — the  brightness  of  his  glory , 
and  the  exact  image  of  his  person,  And  God  is  declared 
to  be  "in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself." 
Hence  the  gentile  world  is  condemned  for  changing  the 
glory  of  the  incorruptible  God,  into  an  image  made  like  to 
corruptible  man. 

Jesus  speaks  of  himself  in  a  manner  equally  explicit: — 
"  The  Father  is  in  me  :" — "  He  that  hath  seen  me,  hath 
seen  the  Father  ;  and  how  sayest  thou  then,  shew  us  the 
Father.  Believest  thou  not  that  I  am  in  the  Father,  and 
the  Father  in  me  ?  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  I 
speak  not  of  myself,  but  the  Father  that  dwelleth  in 
me,  he  doeth  the  works.  Believe  me  that  I  am  in  the  Fa- 
ther and  the  Father  in  me;"|| 

The  original  manifestation  in  the  form  of  God  is  describ- 
ed in  like  terms.     "  Show  me  thy  glory"  or  grant  me  a 

*  Col.  ii.  8,  9.  t  2  Cor.  iv.  4. 

X  Col.  i.  15.  II  John  xiv.  9,  11. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  87 

"view  of  thy  personal  appearance,  said  Moses ;  to  which  he 
received  for  answer — "thou  canst  not  see  my  face,  for  no 
man  can  see  me  and  live."  God  himself  is  then  invisible 
— yet  the  similitude  of  this  invisible  God,  Moses  was  per- 
mitted to  behold.  Isaiah  also,  in  vision,  saw  the  king — Je- 
hovah or  Hosts.  And  Christ  speaks  of  "the  face  of  bis 
Father  which  is  in  heaven.'' 

The  mediatorial  appearances  with  which  Abraham  and 
Isaac  and  Jacob  were  indulged,  had  the  same  general  cha- 
racter. Jehovah  conversed  with  Abraham  before  the  de- 
struction of  Sodom.  Jehovah  appeared  to  him  again,  and 
said,  "I  am  Almighty  God;  walk  before  me,  and  be  thou 
perfect5 '  He  afterwards  told  Moses — "  /  appeared  to  Abra- 
ham, to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  as  Almighty  God  ;  but  by  my 
name  Jehovah,  or  in  my  form  as  Jehovah-Elohim,  was 
I  not  known  unto  them."* 

Can  proof  more  ample  or  explicit  be  desired,  in  order  to 
show  that  in  all  these  cases  the  being  who  was  manifested 
was  God  himself  1  A  distinct  appearance  there  was ; — various 
appearances  there  were ;  the  exterior  form  was  different, 
according  to  circumstances  ;  but  that  form  was  always  in- 
habited by  God  himself.  And  indeed  what  is  there  impro- 
bable, unnatural,  or  incredible  in  such  a  view  ?  Or  was 
there  not  evidence  enough  of  the  fact,  when  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  started  into  being — when  the  bush  on  fire  re- 
mained unconsumed — when  the  mountain  burned  to  the 
midst  of  heaven — when  Christ  wrought  his  wondrous  mira- 
cles ?  Is  there  the  least  necessity  to  waste  our  ingenuity  in 
framing  some  perplexed  and  abstruse  hypothesis  ?  What 
more  can  be  gained  or  desired  ? 

Perhaps  these  various  appearances  may  be  charged  with 
bruising;  a  sreat  deal  of  confusion  into  this  branch  of  moral 
science.  But  let  it  be  remembered  that  this  confusion  is 
not  the  result  of  the  argument  now  advanced  :  for,  whether 
that  argument  be  true  or  false,  these  appearances  are   all 

*  Exod.  iji,  14. 


88  LECTURES  ON 

matters  of  historical  fact,  which  I  have  not  created,  but 
simply  arranged.  And  why  should  they  introduce  any 
confusion  ?  Are  not  the  circumstances  to  which  they  re- 
spectively belong,  sufficiently  distinct  to  account  for  the 
variety  which  has  occurred  ?  Two  systems  of  moral  go* 
vernment  are  delineated — Law  and  Gospel- — the  first  con- 
sistent with  the  form  of  God,  and  the  second  with  the  form 
of  man;  or  the  revival  of  law  and  the  prophetical  annuncia- 
tions of  gospel,  are  described,  each  sustained  by  its  own 
appropriate  divine  manifestation. 

In  the  mere  fact  of  change  of  form  no  difficulty  can  ex- 
ist ;  because  every  one  must  know  that  change  is  the  pro- 
perty of  form,  its  susceptibility  for  which  is  apparent  in 
every  direction,  Our  bodies  pass  through  endless  changes, 
from  infancy  to  manhood — from  manhood  to  the  grave — 
from  a  natural  into  a  spiritual  state.  Christ  was  transfigur- 
ed— metamorphosed — changed  his  form  on  the  mount ;  ap- 
peared in  more  forms  than  one  after  his  resurrection  ;  talk- 
ed of  his  flesh  and  bones,  while  his  apostles  speak  of  his 
glorious  body  in  heaven.  The  glory  of  the  Lord  of  old  was 
a  flaming  fire  in  a  bush — a  pillar  of  fire  in  a  cloud- — an 
"  infolding"  flame  over  the  cherubim.  The  Spirit  was  re- 
cognised at  one  time  in  bodily  shape,  like  a  dove  ;  at  ano- 
ther in  cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire.  Angels  have  been 
viewed  as  men  ;  and  again,  with  a  countenance  like  light- 
ning, and  raiment  white  as  snow.  But  all  this  change  of 
form,  which  some  corresponding  change  in  external  cir- 
cumstances may  call  for,  does  by  no  means  involve  or  imply 
the  destruction  of  identity ;  the  same  intelligent  agent  may 
still  be  officiating  under  all  these  exterior  changes. 

In  relation  to  the  subject  under  consideration,  the  iden- 
tity is  most  carefully  and  scrupulously  preserved.*     He 

*It  was  to  explain  and  illustrate  this  identity,  that  Dr.  Watts  wrote 
his  fanciful  treatise,  entitled  "the  Glory  of  Christ."  He  taught  in 
that  treatise  the  pre-existence  of  Christ's  human  soul ;  hut  evidently 
was  not  entirely  satisfied  with  his  own  theory. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  89 

'-made  himself  of  no  reputation — laid  aside,  divested  him- 
ielf  of  the  form  of  God,  and  took  upon  him  the  form  of  man. 
The  Word  which  was  God  was  made  flesh.  The  second 
Adam  is  the  Lord  from  heaven.  My  Father  is  in  me — 
the  angels  behold  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in  hea- 
ven. The  Son  is  the  brightness  of  glory,  and  the  exact 
image  of  his  person.  Now  can  they  who  have  been  in 
the  habit  of  viewing  Jehovah  as  filling  illimitable  space,  as 
every  where  present,  as  manifested  alike,  and  at  the  same 
time,  to  both  angels  and  men,  feel  any  difficulty  in  the  idea, 
that  he  sustains  two  distinct  manifestations,  suited  to  two 
distinct  orders  of  intelligences,  who  are  for  the  time  beino- 
in  different  circumstances  ?  Or  can  there  be  any  great  la- 
bour of  imagination  required  to  conceive  the  fact,  that,  when 
this  difference  of  circumstances  shall  be  obliterated,  or  when 
human  beings  shall  be  "like  the  angels,"  the  original  mani- 
festation which  Jehovah  made  of  himself  in  the  form  of 
God — the  name  Jehovah — shall  be  equally  suitable  to  all, 
and  Christ  shall  surrender  the  kingdom  to  his  Father,  so 
that  God  shall  be  all  and  in  all  ?  May  not  he,  who  co- 
vers himself  with  light  as  with  a  garment,  assume  or  lay 
aside  external  form,  as  may  be  most  advantageous  to  his 
creatures,  without  leading  those  creatures  into  polytheism, 
or  inducing  them  to  suppose  that  in  his  own  nature  there 
must  be  three  persons 1 

On  the  received  hypothesis  of  the  trinity,  or  viewing  the 
Lord  as  the  second  person,  how  will  the  identity  be  sus- 
tained, when  the  scriptural  fact  is  under  consideration,  that 
the  Word,  which  in  the  beginning  was  God,  in  the  fulness 
of  time  became  man  ?  Or  on  the  Arian  hypothesis,  that 
the  Word  was  God,  but  not  the  supreme  God,  how  shall  the 
identity  be  preserved  in  view  of  his  becoming  man?  Nei- 
ther of  these  systems  can  in  the  least  degree  relieve  the 
apparent  embarrassment  into  which  we  are  thrown  by 
this  change  in  exterior  form.  But  if  Jehovah,  with  a  view 
to  the  exhibition  of  himself  to  the  creatures  he  intended 
8# 


90  LECTURES  ON 

to  call  into  being,  should  assume  external  form,  and  before 
their  creation  should  determine  so  to  do,  where  is  there  any 
difficulty  ?  And  if  any  event  should  occur  in  the  history 
of  any  portion  or  class  of  those  creatures,  in  consequence  of 
which  that  personal  exhibition  of  himself  should  be  too  glori- 
ous for  them  to  behold  ;  is  there  any  difficulty  then  brought 
in,  if  he  should  be  graciously  pleased  to  condescend  to  the 
infirmities  of  those  creatures,  and  manifest  himself  in  ano- 
ther form,  better  suited  to  their  capacities?  Or  must  we  - 
believe  that  the  one  cannot  exist  when  the  other  is  pro- 
posed, without  contradiction  or  collision  ?  There  does  not 
appear  to  me  to  be  any  very  distressing  mystery  in  the  prin- 
ciple of  such  a  theory.  On  the  contrary  it  would  seem  to 
proclaim  an  act  of  grace,  as  interesting  and  intelligible  as 
it  is  suitable  and  needful. 

But  I  would  go  a  step  farther,  and  observe,  that  there  is 
not  only  an  identity  carefully  displayed  in  view  of  the  di- 
vine appearances;  but  an  identity  of  legislative  principle  is 
as  distinctly  retained.  The  object  in  both  the  cases  which 
have  been  described  is  precisely  the  same.  The  intellec- 
tual perfection  and  the  spiritual  blessedness  of  man  are 
avowed  as  the  design  of  both  law  and  gospel.  Any  rep- 
resentative character  which  may  be  ascribed  either  to  the 
first,  or  to  the  second,  Adam,  looks  to  the  same  result. 
That  is,  the  children  of  men  under  the  operation  of  either 
the  paradisiacal,  or  mediatorial,  constitution,  can  attain  to 
the  joy  of  the  celestial  kingdom  only  on  the  principle  of 
their  personal  holiness.  Whether  they  be  called  to  do  or 
to  believe,  the  consummation  to  which  they  look  forward 
must  be  their  likeness  to  God.  And  when  the  end  shall 
come,  their  final  position  shall  be  such  as  was  originally 
contemplated,  and  as  has  just  been  stated :  they  shall  be  as 
the  angels  of  God,  the  peculiarities  of  their  earthly  exis- 
tence shall  be  past  and  gone,  and  God  shall  be  all  and  in 
all.  But  these  remarks  anticipate  the  views  which  proper- 
ly belong  to  the  mediatorial  constitution. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  91 

And  now,  perhaps,  the  question  may  be  asked,  what  was 
this  form  of  God  ?  In  attempting  to  meet  this  question,  I 
think  it  necessary  to  remind  you,  that  it  is  no  part  of  my  ob- 
ject to  start  an  original  speculation  on  the  subject  of  God- 
head. My  intention  is  to  endeavor,  irrespective  of  the 
scholastic  and  mystified  explanations  with  which  contend- 
ing sects  have  filled  the  church,  to  present  what  the  scrip- 
tures themselves  have  said  of  the  divine  manifestations.  It 
would  seem  then,  that  the  form  of  God  is  not,  according  to 
their  report,  the  essence  of  God:  else  the  Lord  could  not 
have  laid  it  aside.  Nor  only  so :  but  when  humbled  to  be 
found  in  the  likeness  of  man,  we  still  hear  the  language  ap- 
propriate to  indwelling  godhead  "In  him  dwelleth  all  the 
"fulness  of  the  godhead  bodily." — "My  Father  is  in  me." 
— "The  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth  the  works." 

Neither  was  this  form  the  angelic  nature :  for  it  is  ex- 
pressly called  the  form  of  God.  Nor  yet  was  this  form 
that  of  man;  because  the  assumption  of  human  nature  is 
the  very  object,  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  the  form 
of  God  was  laid  aside. 

The  corresponding  phrases  which  are  used  are — simili- 
tude of  God — face  of  God — name  of  God— appearance,  or 
shape  of  God — presence  of  God — God  dwelling  in.  So  that 
there  seems  to  be  no  alternative.  It  is  the  form  in  which 
God  manifests  himself  to  both  angels  and  men,  viewing  the 
latter  as  they  were  originally  constituted  ;  in  which  the  an- 
gels constantly  behold  him;  and  in  which  we  shal^at  last 
see  him,  when  the  interests  and  concerns  of  this  system 
shall  l>e  wound  up. 

Would  you  press  the  question  any  farther  ?  Then  the 
scriptures  add.  "God  is  light;"- — "Our  God  is  a  consuming 
fire."  Ask  you  more?  Pause  and  reflect.  Remember,  Mo- 
ses could  not  look  and  live.  Remember,  Isaiah  bowed  his 
head  and  cried — I  am  undone — mine  eyes  have  seen  the 
king,  Jehovah  of  Hosts :  Remember,  that  Paul,  caught  up 
into  paradise,  heard  unspeakable  words,  which  it  is  not  law- 


9-2  LECTURES  ON 

ful  for  a  man  to  utter.  "Jehovah  dwells  in  light  which  no 
man  can  approach  unto ;  no  man  hath  seen  him,  nor  can 
see  him."  We  must  be  satisfied  with  contemplating  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  Hereafter,  we 
shall  see,  and  know,  and  be  like  to,  God  as  He  is.  There 
I  leave  this  momentous  theme.  The  scriptures  carry  me 
no  farther  than  simply  to  exhibit  Jehovah-Elohim,  by 
whom  the  divine  communications  were  originally  made. 
By  him  "the  word  of  God  came," 


LECTURE  IV. 


Of  Q0d — Jehovah — The  Spirit — -Analogies — Triniiy 
stated — Terms  explained — Views  of  the  divine  operations 
in  relation  to  the  government  of  man. 

Thus  far  the  discussion  has  merely  delineated,  as  I  sup- 
pose, the  scriptural  view  of  the  Word  of  God,  or  Jehovah- 
Elohim.  Theologians  have  denominated  him  the  second 
person  of  the  trinity.  The  preceding  argument  exhibits 
him  as*God  himself 'manifested  in  personal  form  ;  and  so 
manifested,  because  that  the  human  mind  having  no  in- 
nate ideas,  but  deriving  its  impressions  from  external  things 
through  the  medium  of  the  corporeal  senses,  cannot  see 
Jehovah,  or  acquire  the  knowledge  of  him  in  any  other 
way.  I  speak,  of  course,  of  the  human  mind  in  its  pre- 
sent condition,  or  as  dwelling  in  an  animal  body,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  almost  endless  varieties  of  a  material  sys- 
tem. 

It  may  now  be  asked — what  shall  we  understand  by  Je« 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  93 

hovaii  ?  and  by  the  Spirit,*  as  distinguished  from  Jeho- 
vah-Elohim  ?  And  unless  these  questions  can  be  distinct- 
ly answered,  it  were  vain  to  proceed  in  our  discussion  ;  nor 
could  we  hope  to  explain  the  corresponding  terms — Father 
and  Holy  Spirit — which  are  used  in  relation  to  the  me- 
diatorial manifestation.  These  terms  in  connection  with 
the  term  Son,  are  inconsiderately  employed  by  biblical 
critics,  to  express  the  whole  subject  popularly  called  trini- 
ty ;  and,  carried  back  without  any  reference  to  the  import 
of  Jekovah-Elohim  as  a  divine  title,  are  applied  to  the  di- 
vine essence.  Hence  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity,  or  of  a 
triune  God.     Let  us  then  try  to  meet  these  questions. 

1.  What  are  we  to  understand  b}7"  Jehovah? 

No  one  who  has  bestowed  even  common  attention  on 
the  varied,  yet  continuous,  argument  which  has  been  given 
in  the  preceding  lectures,  can  be  at  much  loss  to  answer 
this  question.  Jehovah  is  of  course  God  himself  : — the 
self-existent  spirit,  whom  we  cannot  see,  and  who  has  been 
pleased  to  manifest  himself  to  his  creatures,  in  appropriate 
and  personal  form.  The  Father,  the  Redeemer  said,  is  ix 
me  : — the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth  the  works. 
In  Christ,  at  one  time  says  Paul,  "dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of 
the  Godhead  bodily ;"  and  at  another,  "God  is  in  Christ,  re- 
conciling the  world  unto  himself."  It  wasjEHOVAH  who 
appeared  to  Abraham,  and  said,  /  am  Almigldy  God.  The 
king,  Whom  Isaiah  saw,  was  Jehovah  of  Hosts.  The  voice 
which  Adam  and  Eve  heard  in  the  garden,  was  that  of  Je- 
hovah-Elohim.  The  Word,  in  the  beginning  was  God. 
The  idea  is  very  simple.  There  is  a  God,  all  nature  harmo- 
niously and  loudly  speaks.  And  if  he  should  manifest  him- 
self in  external  or  personal  form,  by  what  obliquity  of  mind 

*In  the  first  edition  I  used,  in  this  part  of  the  discussion,  the  terms 
Father  and  Holy  Ghost  ;  stating,  at  the  time,  that  I  did  so  on  ac- 
count of  their  familiarity.  Apprehending  that,  what  I  supposed  to 
be  an  indulgence  to  general  feeling  has  contributed  to  a  misunder- 
standing of  my  views,  I  have  in  the  present  edition  taken  the  terms 
used  by  Moses. 


94  LECTURES  ON 

can  the  fact  be  so  grievously  misunderstood,  as  to  lead  to 
the  supposition  that  there  are  two-  gods ;  or  to  involve  the 
subject  of  his  unity  in  the  least  difficulty?  By  what  prin- 
ciple of  fair  or  philosophic  ratiocination,  can  it  possibly 
follow  that  there  are  the  supreme,  and  a  lesser,  God — distinct 
and  separate  beings?  And  above  all, — where  is  the  pro- 
priety of  the  speculation  which,  supposing  it  to  have  be- 
come necessary  that  this  manifestation  should  be  made  in 
the  flesh,  pertinaciously  maintains  that  no  other  preten- 
sions are  set  forth,  than  those  which  belong  to  mere — it  may 
be  frail  and  peccable — humanity?  In  all  such  evasive 
theories,  however  rational  they  may  be  supposed  to  be,  I 
can  discern  nothing  but  a  fragment  of  the  ancient  idolatry. 

To  illustrate  the  subject  by  analogy: — If  we  were  dis- 
coursing of  a  mere  human  being,  what  should  we  consider 
to  be  the  man  ?  Is  it  not  the  mind — the  intellectual  spirit? 
Is  not  this  evidently  Paul's  meaning,  when  he  says — "If  / 
do  that  /  would  not,  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that 
dwelleth  in  me.  I  find  then  a  law  that  when  /would  do 
good,  evil  is  present  with  me ;  for  I  delight  in  the  law  of 
God,  after  the  inner  man;  but  I  see  another  law  in  my  mem- 
bers,  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me 
into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin,  which  is  in  my  members. 
So  then,  with  the  mind  I  myself  serve  the  law  of  God,  but 
with  the  flesh  the  law  of  sin."*  The  mind  is  the  man; 
but  the  mind  is  not  a  person. 

If  the  apostle's  expressions  should,  by  any  ingenious  con- 
trovertist  applying  them  to  some  favorite  speculation,  be 
wrested  from  us,  then  what  shall  be  done  with  the  Redeem- 
er's argument  on  the  resurrection?  Jehovah  had  proclaim- 
ed himself  to  be  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Ja- 
cob :  but  said  Jesus,  "God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but 
of  the  living.'"  These  patriarchs  are  therefore  still  living, 
notwithstanding  their  bodies  have  long  since  been  commit- 

*Rom.  vii.  14—25.. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  95 

ted  to  the  dust.  Or,  again  to  return  to  the  apostle  Paul, 
how  shall  we  understand  him,  when,  with  a  heart  full  of 
heavenly  anticipations,  he  writes — "We  are  always  confi- 
dent, knowing  that  whilst  we  are  at  home  in  the  body,  we 
are  absent  from  the  Lord  :  we  are  confident,  I  say,  and  will- 
ing rather  to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  to  be  present 
with  the  Lord."*  The  body  is  not  the  man;  but  the  home, 
the  tabernacle,  in  which  for  the  present  the  man  resides. 
Have  we  then  two  distinct  men,  or  persons — one  supreme 
man,  and  one  lesser  man, — or  are  we  all  body — a  mere  ma- 
terial lump?  Assuredly  the  spirit  is  the  man  ;  and  when 
that  spirit  is  clothed  with  external  form,  without  which  we 
could  have  no  knowledge  of  or  intercourse  with  him,  he 
is  still  the  same  intelligent  agent.  And  now  we  have  a 
person — Thus  God  is  or  subsists. 

The  fact  of  a  double  manifestation  on  the  part  of  God, 
which  has  been  abundantly  proved,  neither  weakens  nor 
perplexes  our  analogical  argument ;  but  on  the  contrary, 
affords  us  an  opportunity  of  extending  its  application.  For 
there  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body ;  and 
the  changes  which  man  experiences,  in  view  of  those  differ- 
ent modes  of  existence,  does  in  no  way  affect  his  identity, 
however  they  may  modify  his  personal  form  or  exterior 
appearance.  So,  when  the  lord,  who  made  all  things,  and 
who  was  God,  laid  aside  the  form  of  God,  and  took  upon 
him  the  likeness  of  man,  no  argument  can  arise  from  the 
glorious  transaction  against  the  fact  that  it  is  still  the  same 
infinite  and  eternal  Spirit,  manifesting  himself.  Here 
then  I  may  safely  leave  this  interesting  topic,  as  having  been 
amply  illustrated  ; — nothing,  that  I  can  perceive,  is  left  to 
torture  an  humble  and  honest  inquirer.     To  proceed : 

2.  What  shall  we  understand  by  the  Spirit  ?  Moses  in- 
forms us,  that  in  the  beginning,  "the  earth  was  without  form 
and  void ;  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  and 
the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters." 

*  2  Cor.  v.  6— S. 


96  LECTURES  ON 

I  shall  not  stop  to  meet  the  representations  of  those  who 
would  tell  us  that  the  word  here  translated  Spirit  signifies 
wind;  and  that  the  appended  words,  of  God,  are  merely  in- 
tended to  express  a  mighty  wind  ; — as  when  it  is  said,  trees 
of  God,  and  mountains  of  God,  the  meaning  is  tall  trees  and 
great  mountains.  It  is  sufficient  to  observe,  that  in  these 
remarks  we  have  a  very  good  specimen  of  what  theologians, 
who  glory  much  in  their  literature,  call  criticism.  Many 
sectarian  theologians  repose  a  great  deal  of  confidence  in 
criticism;  and  not  unfrequently,  though  unintentionally, 
indulge  in  their  nice  philological  distinctions  at  the  expense 
of  every  thing  which  can  be  valuable  to  them  as  accoun- 
table beings.  Whether  there  was  a  great  wind  employed 
at  the  time  or  not;  or  whether  the  Spirit  derives  an  ap- 
pellation from  the  air,  as  the  best  symbolic  representation 
of  his  varied  influences,  I  shall  not  delay  to  inquire — nor 
would  it  be  worth  while.  If  the  following  argument  does 
not  exhibit  the  great  matter  itself,  very  little  could  be  gain- 
ed by  exposing  the  imbecility  of  a  mere  verbal  subterfuge; 
but  should  the  scriptural  doctrine  be  fairly  set  forth,  any 
honest  reasoner  would  readily  dispense  with  his  philology 
for  the  sake  of  his  morals;  or  rather,  he  would  discover, 
that  by  mistaking  the  one,  he  has  learned  to  misrepresent 
the  other ;  and  would  quickly  succeed  in  adjusting  any  dis- 
crepancy which  may  be  apparent,  but  is  not  real. 

The  o-eneral  argument  on  which  I  am  about  to  enter,  re- 
quires  some  preliminary  observations,  which  may  render  it 
more  acceptable,  and  add  not  a  little  to  its  force. 

1.  That  the  operations  ascribed  to  the  Spirit  are  to  be 
referred  to  an  intelligent  agent,  cannot  be  reasonably  deni- 
ed, if  the  following  and  such  like  scriptural  passages  are 
deliberately  considered: — "When  he,  the  Spirit  of  truth 
is  come,  he  will  guide  you  into  all  truth :  for  he  shall  not 
speak  of  himself  ;  but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear  that  shall 
he  speak ;  and  he  will  show  you  things  to  come.  He  shall 
glorify  me :  for  he  shall  receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  97 

unto  you."* — "While  Peter  thought  on  the  vision,  the 
Spirit  said  unto  him,  behold,  three  men  seek  thee.  Arise 
therefore,  and  get  thee  down,  and  go  with  them,  doubting 
nothing;  for  I  have  sent  them."j  "  As  they  ministered  to 
the  Lord,  the  Holy  Spirit  said,  separate  me  Barnabas  and 
Saul  for  the  work  whereunto  /  have  called  Mm.— So  they, 
being  sent  forth  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  departed  unto  Seleu*- 
cia."t 

•2.  That  the  Spirit  is  God  is  equally  clear  from  these 
texts ; — "The  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth  the 
works:"— "If  I  by  the  Spirit  of  God  cast  out  devils." — 
And  "Peter  said,  Ananias,  why  hath  Satan  filled  thine 
heart,  to  lie  unto  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  Thou  hast  not  lied 
unto  men,  but  unto  God." — "  Now  the  Lord  is  that  Spi- 
rit ;  and  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty. "|| 

3.  The  Spirit  is  never  represented  in  the  scriptures  in 
any  personal  form,  or  in  a  distinct  personal  manifestation. 
On  the  banks  of  Jordan  he  descended  on  Jesus  "in  a  bodi- 
ly shape  like  a  dove."  On  the  day  of  pentecost,  when  the 
disciples  were  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  there  appeared 
unto  them  cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire,  and  it  sat  upon 
each  of  them."  But  in  neither  of  these  cases  was  personal 
form  assumed.  Such  events  may  indicate  the  class  of  se- 
condary agents  he  employs,  as  originating  nothing  concern- 
ing himself,  but  taking  of,  and  ministering  about,  the  things 
that  are  Christ's.     They  go  no  further. 

4.  As  the  Spirit  is  never  said  to  have  assumed  personal 
form,  he  is  never  for  that  reason  recognised  in  the  scrip- 
tures as  a  distinct  object  of  religious  worship.  The  rea- 
son is  very  evident.  God  is  not  the  object  of  religious  wor- 
ship to  man,  excepting  as  he  is  manifested,  By  the  Spirit, 
and  through  Christ,  we  come  to  the  Father.  The  necessi- 
ties of  the  case,  as  has  already  been  shown,  call  for  a  man- 

*  John  xvi.  13,  14.  %  Acts  xiii.  2—4. 

t  Acts  x'.  19—20,  |j  2  Cor.  iii.  17,  18. 


98  LECTURES  ON 

ifestation  of  God  in  personal  form.  Without  it  we  must 
seek  him  in  his  works,  and  worship  him  in  them  ;  which 
has  been  sufficiently  exposed  as  idolatry.  As  then  the  Spirit 
is  not  to  be  viewed  in  personal  form,  so,  if  we  were  to  re- 
cognise him  as  a  distinct  object  of  worship,  we  should  be 
left  to  a  like  result,  and  must  bow  to  him  in  a  bible,  a  cru- 
cifix, a  consecrated  wafer,  or  a  saint,  which  is  the  most 
heartless  of  all  idolatry.  The  ordinance  of  baptism  re- 
cognises the  matters  in  which  we  are  to  believe ;  and  the 
apostolic  blessing  refers  to  the  several  characteristics  and 
operations  which  have  been  set  forth  as  distinguishing 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit ;  but  in  neither  case  is  a  di- 
rect act  of  religious  address  to  the  Spirit,  as  such,  either 
expressed  or  implied.  Nor  yet  does  the  Redeemer  hint  at 
such  a  service,  when  he  tells  the  Jews,  that  all  men  are 
required  "  to  honor  the  Son  even  as  they  honor  the  Father.'5 
No,  nor  yet  Paul,  when  contrasting  Christianity  with  the 
heathen  mythology,  in  view  of  their  respective  objects  of 
worship: — "To  us,"  says  he,  "there  is  one  God,  even  the 
Father,  and  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  And  even  the  heathen, 
though  they  had  many  gods  and  many  lords,  yet  had  but 
these  two  classes  of  objects  of  worship;  seemingly  inti- 
mating that  the  fact  has  been  from  the  beginning  just  as 
I  have  stated  it. — I  presume  it  is  distinctly  remembered, 
that  in  these  observations  reference  is  made  to  the  Spirit 
as  officially  distinguished  from  Jehovah  ;  or  that  I  am  ex- 
plaining the  relative  use  of  official  terms. 

Having  offered  these  preliminary  remarks,  I  proceed  with 
the  question  before  us — what  is  the  Spirit  ?  I  must,  how- 
ever, be  indulged  with  the  liberty  of  taking  what  may  seem 
to  be  a  circuitous  route,  in  order  to  answer  it.  As  the 
idea,  which  I  shall  offer  in  solution  of  this  universally  con- 
ceded mystery,  may  be  treated  as  my  own,  I  must  be  per- 
mitted to  choose  my  method  of  representing  it. 

When  the  apostle  Paul  wrote  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians, he  noticed  in  connexion  with  other  things  a  particular 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  99 

case  of  crime  which  had  occurred  among  them ;  in  reference 
to  which  they  had  not  conducted  themselves  either  discreetly 
or  faithfully.  This  case  he  undertakes  to  adjudicate  : — "I 
verily,"  he  says,  "  as  absent  in  body,  but  present  in  spirit, 
have  judged  already  as  though  I  were  present,  concerning 
him  that  hath  so  done  this  deed,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  when  ye  are  gathered  together,  and  my  spirit, 
with  the  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  deliver  such 
an  one  to  Satan."  *  What  is  the  import  of  this  singu- 
lar language  ?  In  what  way  could  Paul's  spirit  be  in 
the  Corinthian  church,  when  his  body  was  absent  ?  The 
common-place  idea,  that  a  man  can  translate  his  thoughts 
thousands  of  miles  in  an  instant,  will  not  explain  the 
apostolic  phrase  ;  because  those  distant  objects  which 
might  interest  his  feelings,  could  not,  in  that  case,  be  in 
any  manner  conscious  of  his  intellectual  operations.  The 
fact  would  be  quite  different  in  the  Corinthian  church  :  it 
would  be.  to  use  the  apostle's  own  language,  "as  though 
he  were  present."  The  whole  assembly  would  have  felt 
"  as  though  he  were  present;"  and  the  disciplinary  process 
would  have  been  conducted,  "as  though  he  were  present.'1 
From  the  force  and  feeling  of  his  official  authority,  there  was 
no  escape.  His  individuality  was  recognised,  though  he  was 
not  personally,  or  really,  present.  Yet  a  second  or  a  dif- 
ferent person  is  not  implied  in  the  phraseology  which  the 
apostle  uses. 

A  similar  idea  is  advanced  by  the  same  apostle  when  he 
reports  the  faith  of  Abel. —  "By  faith  xlbel  offered  unto 
God,"  he  says,  "a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain;  and 
by  it,  he  being  dead,  yet  speakefh.n  So  one  age  lives  on  the 
thoughts  excogitated  by  the  spiriis  of  some  preceding  age. 
The  spirits  of  the  fathers  hover  around  the  summit  of 
Zion,  and  are  conjured  at  pleasure  into  our  sanctuaries  and 
ecclesiastical  courts,  to  frown  on  every  man  who  dares  to 

*  l  Cor.  v,  3--5. 


100  LECTURES  ON 

think  for  himself;  and  to  visit  on  his  guilty  head  the  sad 
consequences  of  heresy.  By  creeds  and  catechisms,  and 
ponderous  tomes  of  lofty  pretensions,  those  fathers,  being 
dead,  yet  speak.  It  is  perfectly  astonishing  how  far  such 
influence  is  exerted,  and  with  what  easy  credulity  men  sub- 
mit their  own  immortal  minds  to  its  destructive  control. — * 
"  Whatsoever  time,  or  the  heedless  hand  of  blind  chance," 
says  Milton,  "  hath  drawn  down  from  of  old  to  this  present, 
in  her  huge  drag-net,  whether  fish  or  sea-weed,  shells  or 
shrubs,  unpicked,  unchosen,  those  are  the    fathers." 

A  friend  writes  a  letter,  or  publishes  a  book.  His  spirit 
is  recognised,  is  felt,  in  every  sentence,  in  every  line.  The 
reader  discerns  the  attributes  of  his  character,  and  not  un- 
frequently  fancies  that  he  hears  the  tones  of  his  friend's 
voice. 

An  individual  of  political,  literary,  or  official  merit,  may 
be  so  distinctly  felt  in  the  community  to  which  he  belongs, 
as  to  command  universal  admiration  for  some  signal  service 
he  has  rendered.  Or  he  may  be  envied  for  his  superior  at- 
tainments and  standing ;  and  be  reproached  and  maligned 
by  multitudes,  who  had  not  graCe  enough  to  acknowledge 
their  obligations  to  him.  But  when  the  rude  hand  of  death 
shall  have  dissolved  the  tie  that  bound  him  to  an  ungrateful 
world,  envy  retires,  suspicion  sleeps,  and  his  voice  is  heard 
with  deliberate  and  respectful  attention.    His  spirit  speaks. 

A  prince,  screened  from  public  gaze  within  his  own  pa- 
Lace,  or  seldom  leaving  the  metropolis  of  his  empire,  yet 
exerts  a  powerful  influence — legislative,  military,  or  other- 
wise— to  the  utmost  extent  of  his  dominions.  His  spirit 
pervades  every  department  in  his  administration  ;  and  mil- 
lions who  never  saw  him  respectfully  mention  his  name, 
submissively  bow  to  the  symbols  of  his  authority,  and  en- 
thusiastically eulogize  his  virtues.  They  would  fight,  they 
would  bleed,  they  would  die,  for  his  honor ;  and  for  his 
gratification  would  chant  the  praises  of  a  victory,  that  leaves 
to  many  a  bereaved  widow  and  houseless  orphan,  their  tears 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT  101 

as  their  meat  night  and  day.  Social  influence  is  one  of  the 
most  powerful  springs  of  human  action,  productive,  at  one 
time,  of  a  thousand  blessings ;  and  at  another,  the  parent 
of  as  many  ills.  Yet  in  none  of  these  cases  is  a  new  per- 
son supposed  to  be  present. 

But  we  must  take  another  and  a  farther  view  of  Paul's 
spirit.  He  gloried  in  a  hope  beyond  this  life,  and  in  scenes 
of  bliss  amidst  which  his  spirit  should  dwell,  when  his  mar- 
tyred body  should  rest  in  the  dust.  How  he  exulted,  when 
this  subject  occupied  his  thoughts  and  employed  his  pen  !  "  I 
kilew  a  man  in  Christ  fourteen  years  ago,"  he  said,  "  and 
of  such  an  one  will  I  glory — I  knew  such  an  one  caught  up 
into  the  third  heavens ;  how  that  he  heard  unspeakable 
words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter."  Whether 
"he  was  in  the  body  I  cannot  tell,  or  whether  he  was  out 
of  the  body  I  cannot  tell."  In  what  way  these  unspeaka- 
ble words  were  communicated  to  him,  or  what  was  the 
mode  or  manner  of  action  in  which  his  spirit  was  employ- 
ed, he  could  not  explain.  Perception  by  means  of  our  cor- 
poreal senses  he  could  readily  have  stated  ;  but  perception 
in  the  case  described,  or  when  the  spirit  reaches  its  celes- 
tial atmosphere,  he  was  unable  to  define. 

Ardently  did  he  desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ. 
Amidst  all  his  earthly  troubles,  his  spirit  rose  into  commu- 
nion with  his  beloved  Master,  and  coveted  to  be  absent  from 
the  body  and  to  be  present  with  the  Lord.  Then,  like  Abra- 
ham, Isaac  and  Jacob,  of  whose  etherial  essence  and  celes- 
tial destiny  the  Stfdducees  seemed  to  be  so  stupidly  ignorant, 
he  should  live  and  behold  and  praise  his  glorified  Redeem- 
er. In  heaven,  independent  of  this  material  tabernacle 
beyond  whose  powers  the  spirit  now  perceives  no  objects, 
hears  no  melody,  and  accomplishes  no  designs,  it  shall  ex- 
ert all  its  faculties.  What  then  if  the  spirit  of  Paul,  which 
had  been  burdened  with  the  care  of  all  the  churches  while 
on  earth,  should  even  now  hover  over  our  altars,  and  feel 
the  deepest,  but  a  melancholy,  interest  in  our  distractions  ? — 
9* 


102  LECTURES  ON 

Though  invisible  to  us,  we  would  in  such  a  Case  speak  of 
his  presence  and  individuality. 

But  if  this  cannot  be,  still  we  know  that  angels,  acting  out 
a  celestial  character,  living,  moving  and  operating  on  the 
principles  of  celestial  existence,  are  appointed  to  a  ministry 
on  account  of  the  heirs  of  salvation.  They  encamp  round 
them  that  fear  the  Lord,  and  watch  over  many  a  timid, 
trembling,  desponding  child  of  grace.  How  far  their  agency 
may  extend,  or  what  various  concerns  may  fall  within  their 
range,  no  one  can  fully  tell.  It  is  the  fact  that  I  wish  to 
be  distinctly  noticed,  and  which  is  my  reliance  in  following 
out  my  subject. 

Having  stated  the  scriptural  facts  in  relation  to  intellec- 
tual creatures,  so  far  as  they  are  relevant  to  the  object  of  our 
present  inquiry,  I  shall  next  endeavor  to  ascertain,  whether 
Jehovah  offers  any  analogous  representation  of  Himself  I 
For  if  we  shall  find  that  a  train  of  influences  or  operations 
correspondent  with  those  which  have  been  predicated  of 
created  spirits,  is  ascribed  to  him,  while  at  the  same  time 
his  actual,  though  invisible,  presence  is  distinctly  and  unde- 
niably affirmed,  nothing  farther  can  be  desired. 

Man,  it  is  said  in  the  bible,  was  made  in  the  image  of  God. 
There  can,  therefore,  be  nothing  either  extravagant  or  im- 
probable in  the  idea,  that  God  is  Me  man.  In  fact,  "our 
ideas  of  the  divine  character  are  all  taken  from  archetypes 
found  in  our  own,  because  we  have  none  other  wherefrom 
to  describe  any  thing  conceivable  to  our  imaginations." 
More  particularly  will  it  seem  to  be  rational  and  satisfactory., 
when  we  recollect  that  the  special  doctrine  of  a  Mediator 
is,  that  he  "who  was  in  the  form  of  God,  was  made  in  the 
likeness  of  men ;  and  that  it  behooved  him  in  all  things  to  be 
made  like  unto  his  brethren,  that  he  might  be  a  merciful 
and  faithful  high  priest."  The  point  of  resemblance  be- 
tween God  and  man  has  been  supposed  to  be  purely  intel- 
lectual and  moral.  Hence  the  image  of  God,  as  man  was 
created  in  it,  has  been  said  to  consist  in  "knowledge, 
righteousness,  and  true  holiness."     Admitting  this  view  to 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  103 

be  correct,  the  analogy,  of  which  we  are  in  quest,  would 
exist  in  the  intellectual  operations,  or  in  the  action  of  spirit, 
ascribed  to  God  and  man ;  of  course  the  influences  of  the 
spirit  of  man,  which  have  been  so  particularly  detailed, 
would  lead  us  to  infer  similar  influences  exerted  by  Jehovah. 
And  the  fact  of  those  influences,  analogically  traced,  as  far 
as  the  representations  previously  made  of  the  spirit  of  man 
would  allow  us  to  go,  would  explain  the  whole  scriptural 
doctrine  of  the  Spirit. 

But  let  us  hear  Moses  himself  on  this  subject  of  the  di- 
vine image  ?  He  reports  the  matter  thus : — "And  the  Elo- 
him  said,  let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  like- 
ness." It  is  not  God  abstractedly  considered,  it  is  not 
Jehovah  viewed  in  and  of  himself  a  pure  Spirit,  whom 
man  resembles;  but  he  is  made  like  the  Elohim.  What 
then  is  meant  by  the  Elohim  ?  First,  God  is  a  Spirit ;  so 
also  is  man.  Secondly,  God  has  manifested  himself,  or,  as 
a  Spirit,  he  dwells  in  external  form.  The  fact  is  the  same 
with  man :  his  spirit  inhabits  a  body.  Thus  we  have  a 
double  resemblance.  And  may  there  not  be  a  third?  May 
not  God  as  a  Spirit,  considered  as  manifested  in  external 
form,  act  independently  of  that  form,  as  the  spirit  of  man 
does  ?  and  may  not  a  doctrine  of  influences,  large,  impor- 
tant, and  varied,  which  he  shall  really  superintend  or  sus- 
tain, ensue  ?  Should  this  be  the  fact,  would  it  not  explain, 
would  it  not  in  truth  be,  the  very  doctrine  of  the  Spirit  ? 
Can  any  thing  farther  be  desired  to  place  the  whole  subject 
in  clear  and  intelligible  exposition  ? 

Let  us  appeal  to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony.  The 
apostle  Paul  evidently  states,  and  with  considerable  preci- 
sion, the  view  of  the  Spirit  of  God  which  has  been  infer- 
red by  analogy. — "The  Spirit,"  he  says,  "  searcheth 
all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God.  For  what  man  know- 
eth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in 
him  ?  Even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the 
Spirit  of  God.'"*.  This  is  certainly  writing  in  terms  which  are 

*  1  Cor.  ii.  10,  11. 


104  LECTURES  ON 

very  plain  and  positive  ;  and  the  very  analogy,  by  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  illustrate  our  subject,  is  thus  employed 
as  the  best,  if  not  the  only  one,  by  which  the  inspired 
writer  could  explain  himself  to  the  apprehension  of  his 
readers.  The  spirit  of  man,  within  him,  carefully  reflects 
on  the  purposes  he  has  formed,  and  the  circumstances  un- 
der which  those  purposes  are  to  be  developed.  In  like  man- 
ner the  Spirit  of  God — within  the  form  that  he  has  assum- 
ed, shall  I  say — reflects  upon,  carefully  considers,  and  oft- 
times  reviews,  the  various  designs  of  mercy  he  has  pro- 
claimed ;  as  well  as  their  most  gracious  and  effectual  ap- 
plication to  the -changing  condition  of  human  beings.  The 
same  general  doctrine  is  taught  by  the  Lord  himself,  when 
he  promised  to  his  disciples,  that  he  would  send  them  the 
Spirit,  "  Howbeit,"  said  he,  "when  he,  the  Spirit  of 
truth  is  come,  he  shall  guide  you  into  all  truth ;  for  he 
shall  not  speak  of  himself,  but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear, 
that  shall  he  speak."  Hearing  and  reflection,  both  of 
which  are  ascribed  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  may  well  go  toge- 
ther, and  are  very  happily  sustained  by  the  analogy  which 
is  selected. 

I  shall  be  chargeable  with  no  presumption,  nor  yet  with 
a  puerile  yielding  to  an  errant  fancy,  if  I  now  call  up  and 
apply  the  particular  cases  of  intellectual  operation  in 
which  the  spirit  of  man  is  known  to  act,  independently  of 
its  bodily  form.  We  now  no  longer  know  Christ  after  the 
flesh.  "  The  heavens  must  receive  him  until  the  times  of 
the  restitution  of  all  things."  But  his  spirit  is  with  us. — I 
mean  not  his  human  spirit;  though  even  in  that  application 
the  principle  of  our  argument  would  be  sustained.  But  he 
is  God  manifested  in  the  flesh ;  and  therefore  the  reference  is 
to  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  Spirit  of  truth  is  abroad,  con- 
vincing the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness  and  of  judgment. 
And  who  does  not  perceive  the  fact  ?  Whose  heart  does  not 
feel  the  attractions  of  his  grace  ?  Whose  soul  does  not  tremble, 
under  the  denunciation  of  his  wrath  ? 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  105 

Nor  only  so.  Jesus,  while  on  earth,  though  felt  through- 
out Judea,  in  the  synagogue,  in  the  temple,  in  the  sanhe- 
drim, in  Herod's  court,  in  Pilate's  chamber,  vet  was  an  ob- 
ject of  envy,  of  reproach,  of  malignant  revenge.  His  fol- 
lowers were  few.  The  fickle  multitude,  easily  assembled, 
were  as  quickly  dispersed.  One  disciple  betrayed  him ; 
another  denied  him  ;  the  r£st  forsook  him  and  fled.  A  few 
devoted  females  wept  at  his  cross,  or  were  early  at  his  se- 
pulchre. An  astonished  centurion  confessed  his  power ; 
and  an  expiring  robber  sued  for  his  mercy.  But  what 
more  ?  He  said  himself  to  his  disciples — ':  it  is  expedient 
for  you  that  I  go  away  ;  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comfort- 
er will  not  come."  He  went  and  the  Spirit  came.  With 
what  power  the  apostles  spake  !  What  mighty  works  they 
performed !  What  land  did  they  not  penetrate  ?  What  phi- 
losophy did  they  not  confound  ?  What  mitred  priest  did 
they  not  humble  ?  What  idol  god  did  not  totter  on  his  base  ? 
Do  I  say  more  than  the  facts  in  the  case  will  warrant,  in 
remarking,  that  a  much  greater  amount  of  practical  moral 
influence  was  felt  after  the  Redeemer's  death,  than  while 
he  lived  r 

Books,  as  the  instruments  of  intellectual  power,  have 
also  been  adduced  in  illustration  of  this  subject.  Holy 
men  of  God  have  written  the  bible.  They  have  written  it 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Spirit.  And  what  honest 
mind  does  not  perceive  and  feel  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  eve- 
ry sentence,  in  every  line  ?  Or  can  there  be  any  thing  more 
unseemly  than  to  be  heard  praying  for  the  Spirit,  while  we 
put  the  scriptures  out  of  the  way,  traduce  them  as  unin- 
telligible, seek  not  to  be  intimately  acquainted  with  them, 
or  substitute  in  their  place,  avowedly  or  virtually,  the  books 
of  controversial  and  embittered  theologians?  What  a  spec- 
tacle in  an  age  of  revivals ; — in  a  period  when  every  sect 
has  bosomed  within  itself  the  principles  of  its  own  disso- 
lution ! 

In  like  manner  the  Son  of  God  may  be  viewed  as  an  ex- 


106  LECTURES  ON     - 

alted  Prince,  seated  on  his  throne — in  glory — at.  the  right 
hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high — far  out  of  our  sight — not 
personally  seen  on  earth.  But  his  Spirit  is  in  all  parts  of 
his  mediatorial  dominions.  Every  old  testament  prophet — 
every  new  testament  apostle — every  humble  saint  has  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  in  him :  all  the  world  is  under  his  tuition, 
and  every  unbeliever  resists  his  grace,  and  foolishly  courts 
his  wrath. 

But  all  this  argues,  it  may  be  said,  mere  influence ;  and 
may  be  resolved  into  simple  emanation,  without  evincing 
the  presence  of  any  individual  agent.  Suppose  that  such 
be  the  fact.  Is  there  any  thing  in  the  scriptures,  or  in  the 
systems  of  popular  theology  which  men  laud  with  so  much 
fulsome  adulation,  to  forbid  us  to  speak  of  the  Spirit's  in- 
fluence 1 

But  has  our  schedule  of  familiar  analogies  yet  run  out  ? 
Was  not  the  spirit  of  Paul  traced  to  its  heavenly  habitation, 
"shining in  full  glory,"  really  enjoying  his  Saviour's  love, 
though  his  bod}*-  is  in  the  grave  ?  Have  not  angels  been  ad- 
duced, as  ministering  spirits,  acting  on  the  principles  of  the 
celestial  world  ?  And  above  all,  may  we  not  thus  speak  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  or  of  Jehovah  himself — who  is  every 
where  present,  invisibly,  yet  really,  superintending  all  the 
widely  diversified  interests  of  the  mediatorial  empire  ?  To 
this  point  it  has  been  my  object  to  carry  this  discussion  ; 
and  it  has  never  been  lost  sight  of  for  a  single  moment. 
The  spirit  of  the  believer,  singing  the  praises,  and  shouting 
the  alleluias  of  redeeming  love,  while  yet  his  bodily  lips 
are  sealed  in  death,  is  not  a  mere  emanation  from  an  annihi- 
lated or  mouldered  being.  It  is  the  man  himself,  in  spot- 
less robes,  and  with  his  golden  harp,  fully  conscious  of  his 
own  identity. 

It  is  here  worthy  of  observation,  that  Moses,  when  speak- 
ing of  the  agency  of  the  spirit  in  creation,  denominates 
him  the  Spirit  of  "Elohim."  If  then  Jehovah-Elohim 
was  a  divine  hypostasis,  or  person,  as  man  is  while  dwell- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  107 

ing  in  the  body,  it  is  very  clear  that  the  phrase,  "  Spirit  of 
Elohim"  is  analogous  with  "spirit  of  man;"  and  it  is  equal- 
ly clear  that,  as  the  phrase,  "  spirit  of  man,"  does  not  express 
a  distinct  person,  but  is  applied  to  man's  intellectual  ope- 
rations irrespective  of  his  bodily  presence,  we  have  no 
mode  of  explaining  the  phrase,  "  Spirit  of  Elohim,"  but 
that  which  implies  corresponding  operations. 

The  scriptural  view  of  God  which,  if  I  mistake  not,  has 
been  very  distinctly  ascertained,  is  simply  this  : — Jehovah, 
is  God  himself,   considered  as  he  is  in  his  own  being — an 
infinite,  invisible,  eternal  Spirit :  The  Word,  or  Jehovah- 
Elohim,  is  God  himself,  .as  he  has  assumed,  and  is  revealed 
in,  persojial  form,  with   the  view  of  manifesting  himself 
unto  his  intelligent  creatures,  that  they  might  enjoy  per- 
sonal intercourse  with  him.     The   Spirit,  is  God  himself, 
acting  invisibly,  or  not  in  personal  form,  yet  really,  in  his 
providential  superintendence  over  his  works.     Every  one 
can  distinctly  perceive  in  this  delineation,  that  there  is  but 
one  God  ;  and  no  one  can  feel  any  necessity  to  advance 
the  inexplicable  dogma,  that  there  are  three  persons  in  one ' 
God.     No  philosopher  would  ever  describe  man  as  three 
persons,  and  but  one  man.     Or  if  any  sophist,  vain  of  his 
power  of  philosophic  refinement,  should  so  represent  the 
human  being,  the  world  would  leave  him  to  his  self-com- 
placency, and  mind  their  own  business  under  the  guidance 
of  their  own  common  sense  apprehensions.     Yet  the  same 
threefold  view,  which  has  been  taken  of  God,  maybe  very 
consistently  taken   of  man.     But  the   subject  of  Godhead 
has   been  so  mystified  by  the  ancient  philosophy,  either 
oriental  or  grecian  ;  and  so  obscured  by  men,  who,  offend- 
ed with  the  grossness  of  the  vulgar  idolatry,  diverged  into 
most  extravagant  speculation  ;  or  so  uniformly  represented 
as  incomprehensibly  mysterious,  by  theologians  who  were 
deceived  by  a  false  philosophy,  and  who  scarcely  ever 
thought  of  breaking  away  from  its  trammels ;  that  man- 


108  LECTURES  ON 

kind   have    helplessly  mistaken  their  unintelligible  state- 
ments for  good  sense  and  scriptural  truth. 

But  if  we  had  not  reached  a  conclusion  so  rational  and 
simple,  yet  it  is  evident,  that  the  threefold  view  of  God 
which  the  scriptures  so  clearly  state,  arises  entirely  from 
the  manifestation  which  he  has  made  of  himself  to  his 
creatures.  As  to  God,  considered  in  his  own  being,  he  is, 
said  Jesus,  a  spirit.  There  are  not,  there  cannot  be, 
three  persons  in  a  Spirit.  Predicated  of  the  human  spirit, 
the  absurdity  of  such  an  idea  would  immediately  appear : 
and  no  analogy  could  be  pointed  out  in  any  direction.  Nor 
is  the  notion  of  Sabellius  a  whit  better ;  while  that  of  Arius 
must  be  condemned  by  its  own  terms.  For  which  of  the 
phrases — three  persons — three  portions — a  supreme  God 
and  a  lesser  God — would  be  most  appropriate,  in  comment- 
ing on  the  scriptural  view  which  has  been  presented  ? 

The  precise  use  of  the  terms,  however,  that  have  been 
employed  in  the  scriptures  on  this  subject,  has  not  yet  been 
pointed  out :  and  there  may  be  a  necessity  that  this  should 
be  done,  in  order  to  possess  a  full  apprehension  of  the 
whole  matter.  Then  suffer  me  to  call  up  to  your  recollec- 
tion the  fact,  which  has  been  so  variously  illustrated,  that 
the  bible  has  noticed  two  distinct  manifestations,  which 
Jehovah  has  made  of  himself.  One  in  the  form  of  God, 
and  the  other  in  the  form  of  man :  one  as  Creator,  and  the 
other  as  Redeemer.  When  agents  derive  their  names  from 
the  operations  they  conduct,  from  the  object  they  have  in 
view,  or  from  the  circumstances  under  which  they  act, 
those  names  may  change  ;  or  they  may  not  be  equally  ap- 
plicable to,  or  expressive  of,  every  mode  of  operation, 'or 
every  phase  of  character,  or  every  class  of  social  relations, 
in  which  we  may  be  required  to  contemplate  these  agents- 
Man  is  a  generic  term.  But  all  men  are  not  magistrates, 
bishops,  civilians,  or  physicians.  So  here.  The  terms 
which  are  used  in  reference  to  God  as  manifested  to  us,  are 
not  equally  appropriate  to  eyery  view  in  which  his  charac* 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  109 

ter,  work,  or  official  relations,  are  set  forth.  Word,  King, 
Lord,  Image,  Glory,  are  appellations  which  belong  to  both 
manifestations ;  because  the  general  principle  they  are  in- 
tended to  express  is  equally  characteristic  of  both.  The 
phrase  form  of  God,  can  be  properly  applied  only  to  the 
first.  The  phrase  form  or  likeness  of  man,  with  the  words 
Jesus,  Christ,  Saviour,  Prophet,  Priest,  Captain,  can  only 
be  properly  applied  to  the  second. 

So  also  the  terms  Father,  Son,  Holy  Spirit,  arise  from  or 
belong  to  the  mediatorial  manifestation,  and  not  to  the  ori- 
ginal view  which  God  gave  of  himself,  excepting  so  far  as 
the  term  Father  is  a  general  political  title.  This  observa- 
tion ma}"  not  at  first  appear  strictly  accurate  ;  because  such 
passages  as  the  following  may  seem  to  be  in  direct  hostili- 
ty to  it: — "God  hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by 
his  Son,  by  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds:" — "Jesus 
Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  I  have 
not  been  careful  in  the  selection  of  examples  in  which  the 
supposed  conflict  with  my  remark  may  apparently  exist ; 
because  I  intend,  at  present,  to  make  but  one  explanatory 
observation  :  and  it  is  this ; — that  the  scriptures  evidently 
show  great  concern  to  preserve  in  our  minds  the  idea  of  a 
political  identity*  in  view  of  the  twofold  manifestation  of 
which  they  speak.  This  consideration,  highly  important  in 
itself,  and  affording  an  irrefutable  argument  in  favor  of  the 
divinity  of  our  Saviour,  would  readily  explain  and  remove 
such  seeming  discrepancies.  The  Word,  which  was  in  the 
beginning,  was  made  flesh : — the  second  Adam  is  the  Lord 
from  Heaven.  You  never  hear  Jesus  say,  referring  to 
the  divine  nature,  as  characteristic  of  his  mediatorship, — - 
"The  Son' of  God  who  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth  the 
works ;"  though  he  does  make  such  a  remark  of  the  Far- 
ther dwelling  in  him.  You  never  hear  him  say,  alluding 
to  his  divine  nature, — "If  I  by  the  Son  or  God  cast  out  de- 
vils ;"  though  he  does  say,  that  he  did  cast  out  devils  by  the 

*  See  Lectures  V.  and  VIII. 
Vol.  I.— 10 


110  LECTURES  ON 

Spirit  of  God. — On  the  contrary  he  says,  "The  Son  can  do 
nothing  of  himself: — I  can  of  mine  own  self  do  nothing;  as 
I  hear  I  judge."  The  terms  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit, 
I  feel  perfectly  safe  in  repeating  the  remark,  are  strictly 
applicable  to,  or  are  used  in  view  of,  the  second  manifes- 
tation alone  ;  and  arise  from  the  following  circumstances  : 
Jesus  had  no  earthly  father ;  God  was  his  father :  hence 
the  relation  of  Father  and  Son.  Any  farther  idea,  convey- 
ed by  the  use  of  these  terms,  is  purely  official,  or  political;  as 
we  shall  hereafter  see. — Again.  There  is  an  evil  spirit 
which  reigns  in  the  hearts  of  the  children  of  disobedience  ; 
— the  God  of  the  world — the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air. 
In  opposition  to  whom,  and  in  reference  to  the  better,  to 
the  heavenly  and  purifying  influence  exerted  in  the  divine 
providence,  the  Spirit  of  God  is  denominated  the  Holy  Spi- 
rit ;  or  it  may  be,  and  more  probably  is,  that  as  God  has  erect- 
ed a  church,  which  is  a  community  of  saints,  or  a  holy 
nation,  the  Spirit  takes  his  official  epithet  from  his  opera- 
tions in  that  church,  and  is  hence  styled  holy,  or  "the  Spi- 
rit of  holiness;"  as  he  has  been  called  "the  Spirit  of  bon- 
dage and  fear"  under  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  and  "the 
Spirit  of  adoption,"  or  "of  love,  of  power,  and  of  a  sound 
mind,"  under  the  new  economy.  The  term  Ghost  is  ap- 
plied to  disembodied  spirit,  but  is  a  very  improper  appella- 
tion in  this  connexion,  and  is  borrowed  from  Saxon  super- 
stition. 

In  regard  of  the  first  manifestation,  the  terms  which  are 
used  are,  Jehovah,  Jehovah-Elohim  or  Word,  and  Spirit. 
And  they  are  as  demonstrably  expressive  of  the  scriptural 
doctrine  which  has  been  advanced,  as  the  terms  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Spirit  can  be.  The  opponent,  who  may  be 
offended  because  his  own  ideas  are  not  sustained,  may  criti- 
cise my  use  of  terms,  but  the  principle  is  preserved  in  all 
its  distinctive  force  and  character. 

I  have  farther,  to  observe  that,  in  view  of  this  twofold 
manifestation,  there  are  two  distinct  wo?*ks  ascribed  to  God 


•       MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  HJ 

— creation  and  reconciliation ;  there  are  also,  in  the  same 
connexion,  two  different  conditions  spoken  of,  in  which  man 
is  personally  exhibited — innocence  and  sin;  and  there  are 
two  distinct  forms  of  government  described,  under  which 
man  has  been  placed — law  and  gospel.  These  several  par- 
ticulars I  would  class  thus  :  1.  Jehovah,  Jehovah-Elohim 
or  Word,  and  Spirit — creation — man  in  innocence — law. 
'2.  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit — reconciliation — man  in 
sin — -gospeL 

Before  this  lecture  is  closed,  we  may  call  up  again,  for 
the  purpose  of  farther  illustration,  the  object  which  Jeho- 
vah designed  to  accomplish  by  these  manifestations  of  him- 
self. Some  things  have  been  brought  to  light  in  the  re- 
citation of  the  biblical  texts  that  have  been  quoted,  which  I 
have  omitted  to  notice,  intentionally  reserving  them  for  a 
separate  argument  in  the  conclusion  of  this  exercise. 

It  has  been  rendered  very  evident,  as  I  think,  that  the  ne- 
cessity for  such  divine  manifestations  is  to  be  traced  to  the 
constitution  of  human  nature.  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  man  can- 
not see  him.  Yet  that  we  should  have  personal  intercourse 
with  him,  is  an  idea  equally  natural,  rational  and  desirable. 
As  intellectual  beings,  material  agents  cannot  possibty  be 
the  ultimate  object  either  of  our  thought  or  feeling.  We 
rise  to  the  intellectual  world,  and  to  the  moral  relations 
which  belong  to  it,  by  the  impulse  of  our  being.  Atheism 
is  pure  absurdity  all  round.  Then  it  results,  that  Jehovah 
must  occupy  such  an  attitude  with  regard  to  us.  as  will  make 
this  personal  intercourse  practicable  and  pleasant.  And  as 
he  denounces  idolatry  as  highly  criminal,  while  its  own  his- 
tory betrays  it  to  be  degrading  in  the  very  extreme ;  he  has 
not  taught  us,  either  by  the  attributes  of  our  own  nature,  by 
the  analogies  of  his  works,  or  by  any  scriptural  or  oral  reve- 
lation, that  his  object  can  be  obtained  in  any  other  way  than 
by  his  assuming  personal  form.  And  even  then  if  this  per- 
sonal form,  so  assumed,  has  no  correspondence  with  our  in- 
dividual powers  of  perception,  the  object  in  view  cannot  be 


112  LECTURES  ON 

attained;  the  aspirations  of  our  immortal  nature  remain 
unsatisfied;  and  we  are  driven  back  to  degrade  ourselves 
amid  the  sensualities  of  the  material  world. 

Admitting  such  a  personal  form  to  have  been  assumed, 
and  with  the  explicit  design  of  placing  the  knowledge  of 
God  within  our  reach,  can  our  knowledge  of  God  2:0  be- 
yond  that  exhibition  ?  If  we  can  pretend  to  more  than  con- 
jecture, when  we  attempt  to  transcend  such  a  manifestation  ; 
or  if,  in  making  such  pretensions,  our  views  should  be  either 
distinct  or  accurate,  would  it  not  follow  that  the  exhibition 
itself  is  incomplete,  or  is  not  commensurate  with  our  na- 
ture? Again  the  object  in  view  would  be  lost.  But  phi- 
losophers and  divines  have  trifled  with  the  human  mind,  by 
mistaking  the  terms  in  which  Deity  speaks  of  himself;  or, 
disregarding  the  application  in  which  he  employs  those 
terms,  they  have,  by  a  series  of  incomprehensible  and  un- 
profitable abstractions,  converted  into  pure  mystery  "that 
which  may  be  known  of  God."  They  have  talked  about, 
and  reasoned  from,  omniscience,  omnipresence,  omnipo- 
tence, goodness  and  justice,  as  though  they  could  judge  of 
these  attributes  otherwise  than  by  "the  things  which  are 
made,"  or  which,  in  the  kind  providence  of  God,  have  be- 
come "visible."  And  all  this  they  have  done  at  the  same 
time  that  they  were  conscious  they  could  not  have  accu- 
rately judged  of  the  intellectual  powers  of  a  fellow  man,  but 
by  his  woi'ks. 

Some  scriptural  declarations  which  the  preceding  argu- 
ment has  thrown  in  our  way,  appear  to  me  not  only  strongly 
to  bear  upon,  but  most  happily  to  illustrate,  the  important 
topic  thus  again  called  up.  I  refer  to  them  with  consider- 
able confidence,  because  they  seem  to  be  peculiarly  appro- 
priate. 

1.  God  says  to  Moses, — "I  appeared  to  Abraham,  to 
Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  as  Almighty  God."  Again  he  says — 
"By  my  name,  Jehovah,  I  was  not  Joiown  unto  them." 
Now  the  facts  in  the  case  are,  that  God  did  appear  to  Abra- 


al<JKAL  GOVERNMENT.  113 

ham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  in  the  form  of  a  man  :  and  that 
he  did  appear  to  Moses  on  the  mount,  in  a  form,  the  face 
whereof  Moses  could  not  see  and  live.  The  particular  cir- 
cumstance to  which  I  would  call  your  attention  is,  that 
while  Moses  could  not  see  Jehovah  in  one  form,  in  the 
other — the  form  of  a  man — he  appeared  to  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  as  Almighty  God.  So  he  said  to  Abraham, 
when  he  did  appear,  "  I  am  Almighty  God,  walk  before  me 
and  be  thou  perfect."  Where  then  are  the  proportions — 
what  is  the  moral  symmetry — between  Almighty  God  and' 
the  form  of  man,  on  which  an  intelligent,  sanctified,  chris- 
tian spirit  may  dwell  with  satisfaction  and  profit  ? 

When  Jehovah  promised  to  Abraham  that  a  son,  in  whom 
his  seed  should  be  called,  should  be  born  unto  him,  some 
doubt  was  expressed  or  betrayed  in  relation  to  the  possi- 
bility or  probability  of  the  promise  ever  being  fulfilled  ;  and 
the  question  was  asked,  "Is  any  thing  too  hard Tor  the  Lord  ?" 
Has  he  not  power  ?  Will  he  fail  to  fulfil  his  word  ?  When 
again,  at  a  moment  peculiarly  interesting  and  well  calcu- 
lated to  try  the  patriarch's  faith,  he  was  commanded  to  of- 
fer his  son  in  sacrifice,  he  immediately  obeyed  the  divine 
summons;  "accounting,"  says  Paul,  "that  God  was  able  to 
raise  from  the  dead."  Such  are  the  accompanying  phrases 
and  facts  which  the  history  affords  of  the  good  man's  faith 
in  the  exhibition  which  had  been  made  to  him.  Extending 
our  ideas  in  a  corresponding  manner,  we  should  eventually 
embrace  all  the  varieties  of  human  life ;  and  our  faith  would 
distinctly  anticipate  an  exercise  of  power,  as  far  as  the  na- 
ture or  consistency  of  our  earthly  circumstances  could  re- 
quire. The  issue  would  be  an  entire  confidence  in  the  me- 
diatorial ability  of  the  Son  of  God  to  sustain  in  efficient  and 
successful  operation,  all  the  secondary  agencies  of  his  own 
spiritual  kingdom.  We  should  then  remember,  that  no  cal- 
culations on  mere  omnipotence,  no  waiting  for  an  exertion  of 
divine  power,  while  the  means  are  disregarded,  or  consid- 
ered as  unnecessary  formalities  can  possibly  be  justified. 
10* 


114  Lectures  on 

Instead  of  all  those  deliberations  which  terminate  in  no 
useful  purpose,  and  lead  to  no  practical  results,  we  should 
reflect  more  maturely  on  the  moral  proprieties  which  our 
own  free  agency  would  imply.  Whatever  God  in  inscru- 
table sovereignty  might  do  would  never  constitute  the  pro- 
blem of  our  painful  and  distracting  thought ;  but,  with  an 
intelligent  eye  and  a  submissive  heart,  we  should  diligent- 
ly engage  in  evident  duty,  and  act  in  morals  as  we  do  in 
the  common  affairs  of  life.  "All  power,"  said  our  risen 
Lord,  "is  given  unto  me,  in  heaven  and  in  earth."  It  is  a 
delegated  power  of  which  he  speaks  ;  and  the  sphere  of  its 
operations  is  this  general  system,  with  which  our  existence 
is  connected.  Within  that  sphere  he  must  act  consistently, 
abiding  faithful,  as  one  who  "cannot  deny  himself;"  and 
doing  for  his  vineyard  whatever  can  be  done.  No  power 
is  predicated  of  his  official  character,  beyond  that  which  is 
coincident  with  the  essential  principles  of  our  nature ;  so 
that  our  own  free  agency  cannot  possibly  be  set  aside. 

If  I  were  discoursing  of  political  forms  of  government 
among  men,  my  argument  would  be  readily  understood. 
Every  one  knows  the  difference  between  a  pure  despotism, 
where  the  will  of  the  prince  is  the  law,  and  a  limited  go- 
vernment, in  which  the  principles  of  a  known  constitution 
become  both  a  restraint  on  the  ruler,  and  a  guaranty  to  the 
subject.  The  first  of  these  issues  in  slavery,  degradation, 
and  weakness ;  the  second  is  characterized  by  liberty, 
honor  and  strength.  The  intellectual  being  acquires  power 
in  proportion  as  he  acquires  intelligence  ;  and  never  loses 
his  power  until  his  integrity  is  gone.  The  greatest  glory 
a  ruler  can  win  for  himself,  and  the  greatest  blessing  he  can 
confer  on  the  multitudes  whom  he  governs,  are  to  multiply 
the  means  of  education.  An  intelligent  people,  other 
things  being  equal,  are  always  the  most  powerful.  In  ei- 
ther case,  however,  we  would  talk  of  all  power ;  but  the 
phrase  would  not  have  the  same  import  in  both.  In  the  one 
case,  it  would  refer  to  an  absolute  sovereignty,  which  no 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  115 

one  could  certainly  define  ;  in  the  other,  the  constitution 
would  both  restrict  and  determine  its  meaning. 

Such  is  the  fact  in  relation  to  our  present  subject.  We 
are  all  talking  about  divine  power,  as  an  abstract  perfection, 
without  reference  to  any  constitution  or  laws.  To  speak  of 
that  which  God  cannot  do  is  almost  considered  to  be  blas- 
phemy. The  idea  no  one  seems  able  to  catch ;  while  the 
scriptural  query — "What  could  have  been  done  more  to 
my  vineyard,  which  I  have  not  done  in  it?"* — is,  like  one 
of  Paul's  difficult  sayings,  "hard  to  be  understood."  Now 
the  bible  gives  us  a  very  different  account  of  this  matter. 
There  a  constitution  is  provided  ;  laws  are  enacted  and  pro- 
mulgated ;  and  the  government  which  is  spoken  of  is  that 
of  a  superintending  providence,  carrying  out  the  principles 
of  the  constitution,  and  faithfully  sustaining  the  operation 
of  the  laws.  All  power,  then,  in  this  connexion,  means 
that  power  which  is  contemplated  by,  and  consistent  with, 
the  constitution  and  laws. 

In  fact,  to  put  us  under  such  a  form  of  government  whose 
principles  we  can  understand,  and  whose  interests  we  can 
appreciate,  is  the  very  object  which  God  has  in  view  in 
manifesting  himself  in  personal  form ;  and  is  the  very  de- 
mand which  the  intellectual  nature  of  man  necessarily 
makes.  As  among  men  intelligence  will  make  better  citi- 
zens than  swords  and  bayonets  can  produce ;  so  in  the  go- 
vernment of  God,  enlightened  consciences  will  make  bet- 
ter moralists  and  more  holy  men,  than  can  ever  be  produ- 
ced by  earthquakes  and  tempests.  Devils  can  tremble 
without  being  reformed ;  and  many  a  frightened  criminal 
has  violated  solemn  promises,  which  he  had  not  principle 
enough  to  fulfil.  Jesus  Christ  did  not  come  to  encompass 
us  with  mysteries,  but  to  enlighten  our  understandings. 
And  in  proportion  as  we  escape  by  his  tuition  from  mere 
abstractions,  and  acquire  clear  perceptions  of  his  character 
and  government,  we  grow  in  moral  efficiency,  and  abound 

*Is<u  v,  4, 


116  LECTURES  ON 

in  spiritual  peace.  We  may  not  then  be  waiting  for  some 
sovereign  operation  of  divine  power  to  make  us  holy ;  nei- 
ther need  we  be  afraid  of  some  overwhelming  judgments 
coming,  we  know  neither  whence,  nor  why.  But  by  the 
light  which  he  has  imparted,  and  the  clear  and  undisputed 
truths  which  we  may  obtain,  we  may  walk  peacefully  on 
toward  his  heavenly  habitation,  confiding  in  his  faithful- 
ness. 

2.  The  apostle  Paul  represents  the  Spirit  of  God  as 
searching  all  things.  How  can  such  a  term  be  applied  to 
the  omniscient  God  ?  The  Redeemer  also  says,  that  the 
Spirit  shall  not  speak  of  himself,  but  what  he -shall  hear, 
that  he  shall  speak.  Where  is  the  propriety — what  is  the 
import — of  the  remark?  When  Jesus  would  explain,  he 
represents  the  Spirit  as  convincing  men  of  sin,  of  righteous- 
ness and  judgment;  as  taking  those  truths  which  are  in- 
tegral matters  in  the  mediatorial  constitution,  and  illustra- 
ting them  to  the  apprehensions  of  the  human  mind ;  and, 
as  a  kind  preceptor,  patiently  waiting  on  the  slowness  of  our 
intellectual  operations.  '-'The  deep  things  of  God,"  which 
he  searches,  are  those  which  belong  to  God — not  abstract- 
edly considered,  for  he  is  not  to  speak  of  himself- — but  to 
God  as  manifested  in  personal  form.  They  are  such  moral 
and  ecclesiastical  mysteries  or  secrets,  as  he,  dwelling  in  the 
ancient  prophets,  testified  beforehand  in  relation  to  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should  follow.  Just, 
says  Paul,  like  the  spirit  of  man  in  him,  reflecting  on  his 
various  interests  in  the  world,  and  looking  after  the  best 
means  of  advancing  them.  Sometimes,  when  men  turn 
from  the  ways  of  righteousness,  and  resist  the  Spirit's  in- 
fluences, he  is  grieved ;  when  they  repent,  he  alters  his 
course ;  and  when  they  abide  faithful,  he  cherishes  and  com- 
forts them.  The  phraseology  describes  an  official  agency, 
measured  out,  not  according  to  the  abstract  perfections  of 
Godhead;  but  presented  in  just  and  accurate  proportions 
with  the  system  whose  operations  it  superintends.     A  pro- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  117 

vidence  is  proclaimed,  which,  instead  of  breaking  up  all 
responsibility,  and  metamorphosing  the  human  mind  into  a 
mere  mechanical  agent  by  a  despotic  sway,  is  most  benev- 
olent in  all  its  dispensations  ;  and  which,  like  that  of  a  limit- 
ed monarchy,  or  a  ''constitutional' '  government,  is  not  on- 
ly consistent  with,  but  wisely  and  patiently  cherishes,  the 
free  agency  or  intellectual  liberty  of  its. subjects.  The 
human  mind  cannot  be  evolved  in  any  other  way.  God 
has  not  formed  his  creatures  that  afterwards  he  may  disre- 
gard the  attributes  by  which  they  are  distinguished ;  nor 
called  into  being  a  concatenation  of  causes,  with  a  view  to 
a  corresponding  series  of  effects,  that  afterwards  he  may  nul- 
lify those  causes  by  absorbing  them  in  the  mighty  action  of 
his  own  abstract  perfections. 

It  is  well  known  that  there  are  many  who  indiscrimi- 
nately refer  every  event  to  the  councils  of  eternity ;  and 
consider  it  to  be  the  execution  of  some  invisible  decree, 
secretly  formed  in  the  divine  mind,  before  ever  the  heavens 
or  the  earth  were.  They  argue  from  the  omniscience  of 
God,  as  a  mere  abstract*perfection  of  his  nature;  and,  con- 
founding foreknowledge  and  foreordination  together  as  in- 
capable of  being  distinguished,  they  have  elaborated  a  sys- 
tem which  has  driven  one  half  of  them  into  fatalism ;  and 
so  far  perplexed  the  other  half,  that  they  know  not  how  to 
keep  out  of  fatalism.  Now  the  Spirit  of  God  is  not  thus 
represented  in  the  texts  which  have  been  quoted.  Fore- 
knowledge there  unquestionably  is;  predestination  there 
unquestionably  is ;  but  a  withering  and  demoralizing  doc- 
trine of  f ale  there  is  not.  General  outlines  are  specified: 
minute  facts  are  sometimes  foretold;  and  both  belong  to  a 
course  of  intellectual  operations,  to  which  any  wise  man, 
and  that  in  proportion  to  his  wisdom,  is  competent.  In 
this  very  feature  of  character,  Paul  declares  man's  resem- 
blance to  God,  in  one  of  the  texts  under  consideration. 
But  neither  prescience  nor  predestination  is  carried  out  so 
far  as  to  preclude  reflection  on  the  part  of  man ;  nor  that 


118  LECTURES  ON 

analogous  exercise  on  the  part  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  here  call- 
ed searching  the  deep  things  of  God.  Theologians  in  their 
speculations  on  this  subject  have  run  up  their  metaphysics 
avast  deal  too  high,  either  for  their  own  consistency,  or  for 
the  comfort  of  mankind.  The  apologies  for  indolence  and 
unbelief  which  have  thence  been  derived  ;  the  subterfuges 
which  the  disingenuous  have  thence  learned  so  artfully  to 
affect ;  the  toil  and  distraction  in  which  the  humble  and 
sincere  have  thereby  been  involved  ;  and  the  quenching  of 
the  Spirit  within  them  which  must  certainly  follow,  and  of 
which  some  ministers  have  been  scientifically  guilty,  when 
an  offer  of  salvation  is  to  be  made  unto  all  ; — these  and 
such  like  consequences  have  both  flowed  from,  and  unan- 
swerably refuted,  the  cold  system  to  which  I  refer. 

On  the  supposition  that  God  has  revealed  himself  in  per- 
sonal form,  while  in  this  respect  he  is  now  removed  from 
our  view ;  and  taking  into  consideration  the  providence  of 
God,  which  has  been  so  emphatically  declared  by  inspired 
men;  some  such  train  of  spiritual  operations  as  has  been 
described,  must  be  carried  on  from  'the  nature  of  the  case. 
And  if,  in  regard  of  them,  God  is  represented  either  as  a 
gracious  governor,  uniformly  seeking  the  welfare  of  those 
wrhom  he  rules  ;  or  as  a  loving  father,  whose  parental  soli- 
citude is  exceedingly  great,  there  can  be  no  serious  difficul- 
ty in  an  endeavor  to  ascertain  the  character  of  those  opera- 
tions. How  would  a  father  deal  with  an  errant  child  ? 
Would  he  not  admonish,  reason,  entreat,  warn,  chastise, 
forbear  ? — Would  not  his  spirit  continually  hover  around 
the  beloved  object?  Would  not  all  means  be  employed — 
not  merely  those  which  might  be  purely  paternal,  but  what- 
ever the  social  circle  could  afford — to  reclaim  the  wander- 
er? Should  repentance  or  reformation  be  accomplished, 
and  the  prodigal  return,  what  would  a  father  do  ?  Or  if 
repentance  should  not  follow,  but  crime  should  lead  to  crime, 
until  all  means  have  been  repeatedly  tried,  and  forbearance 
has  been  exhausted ;  must  not  his  benignant  spirit,  griev- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  119 

ed  and  distressed,  retire  ? — All  has  been  done  that  can  be 
done  ;  and  amid  tears,  entreaties,  expostulations  and  warn- 
ings, the  irreclaimed  culprit  rushes  on  perdition  as  his  fate. 
Now  God  is  our  Father.     His  commands  are  with  us, 
sustained  and  illustrated  by  his  own  personal  representa- 
tions ;  and  his  Spirit  attends  us,  using  all  the  means  con- 
sistent with  either  our  own  nature,  or  that  of  the   system 
with  which  we  are  connected.     How  affectionately  he  en- 
treats !  How  tenderly  he  expostulates  !  With  what  conde- 
scending familiarity  he  reasons !  How  .kindly  he  warns ! 
How  reluctantly  he  chastises !     How  long   he  forbears ! 
Whom  does  he  reject  that  repents  and  returns  ?  W'hen  re- 
sisted, does  he  not  grieve  ?  Does   he  hastily,  or  without 
many  and  sore  provocations  retire  ?  And  when  he  departs, 
has  not  every  thing  been  done  which  could  have  been  done, 
and  done  in  vain  ?    Is  there  any  farther  dispensation — any 
other  Saviour — another  sacrifice  ?  Or  in  this  providential 
course,  has  not  sin  against  the  Son  of  Man  been  often  borne 
with  ?  Has  not  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Spirit  at 
last  been  perpetrated — "  despite  been  done  unto  the  Spirit 
of  grace."     If  then  all  has  been  done  that  could  be  done, 
and  no  more  sacrifice  for  sin   remains,  is  not  the  reason 
abundantly  evident,  why  that  blasphemy  is  unpardonable  ? 
The  system  of  grace  has  been  violated  to  its  utmost  limit, 
like  as  when  Adam  ate  the  forbidden  fruit.     No  other 
system,  introducing  more  extensive  provision,   has  been 
revealed.      There   can   be    no   relief,  as  no  moral  influ- 
ence is  known,  nor  has  ever  been  suggested,  by  which  re- 
pentance can  be  produced.     And  hence  Paul  declares  it 
to  be  "impossible  to  renew"  such  an  one  "to repentance." 
Where  repentance  is  not  exhibited,  pardon  cannot  be  ex- 
tended, on  any  principle  of  moral  government  with  which 
we  are  acquainted. 

3.  Our  Redeemer  has  informed  us,  that  the  "  Father 
judge th  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment  to  the 
Son."     The  reason  of  this  arrangement  is  also  assigned: — 


1-20  LECTURES  OJV 

"because  he  is  the  Son  of  Man."  And  further,  even  the 
character  of  the  judicial  process  is  declared — "As  I  hear  I 
judge,  and  my  judgment  is  just."  But  very  differently 
have  theologians  represented  this  matter.  As  on  the  one 
hand  they  have  absorbed  human  free  agency  in  the  di\me 
omnipotence,  and  taught  men  to  reason  out  the  divine  om- 
niscience into  fatalism ;  so  here  on  the  other,  they  have 
set  off  divine  justice,  clothed  in  all  the  terrors  of  its  own 
incomprehensible  infinitude.  They  have  reasoned  about 
infinite  sin,  and  infinite  penalty,  and  an  infinite  satisfaction 
to  divine  justice,  capable  of  saving  ten  thousand  worlds, 
until  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for  any  man,  by  such  a 
technical  standard,  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  his  own  moral 
character  or  habits.  Then  again,  to  meet  allegations  so 
fearfully  mysterious,  others  have  talked  about  infinite  mer- 
cy until  all  judgment  is  lost  in  a  doctrine  of  universal  sal- 
vation. 

But  this  subject,  like  the  preceding,  must  be  interpreted 
in  consistency  with  the  personal  manifestation  by  which 
Jehovah's  rectoral  relations  with  us  are  established.  The 
Father  himself  judgeth  no  man,  even  as  the  Spirit  speak- 
eth  not  of  himself.  Of  course,  as  the  doctrines  taught  to 
us  are  within  the  range  of  our  perceptions,  so  the  judg- 
ment to  which  we  are  amenable  is  correspondent  with  our 
capacities  of  action.  The  sentence  which  occurs  is  not 
the  result  of  an  estimate  which  infinite  justice  has  formed ; 
for  every  man  shall  give  an  account  of  his  works.  "  As  I 
hear,  I  judge,"  says  the  Son  of  man:  "and  my  judg- 
ment is  just  :" — not  merely  in  view  of  abstract  legal  prin- 
ples,  but  with  a  distinct  and  clear  reference  to  the  facts  in 
the  case.  He  alludes  not  to  his  own  accurate  foreknow- 
ledge, nor  to  his  individual  opinions  previously  made  up : 
but  to  that  which  he  hears — to  the  testimony  that^nay  be 
adduced  when  the  books  shall  be  opened. 

Look  again  at  the  interesting  disclosure.  God  "hath  ap- 
pointed a  day,  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  121 

righteousness,  by  that  man  whom  he  hath  or deemed"*  Con- 
sider well  I  pray  you  who  he  is.  Remember  that  he  is  the 
Lord,  your  brother,  who  assumed  your  nature  ;  who  learn- 
ed obedience  by  the  things  which  he  suffered  ;  who  was 
tempted  in  all  points  like  as  you  are,  and  is  therefore  able 
to  succor  them  that  are  tempted ;  who  has  a  fellow  feeling 
for  you  in  all  your  infirmities,  and  who  is  touched  with  the 
tenderest  sympathy,  when  you  suffer.  Remember  that  he 
was  made  like  you  in  all  things,  on  purpose  that  he  might 
be  a  merciful  and  faithful  high  priest — even  now,  when  he 
sitteth  as  a  Priest  on  his  throne.  Take  then  the  subject 
of  judgment  into  your  own  deliberate  and  rational  consi- 
deration, instead  of  giving  way  to  the  metaphysical  extra- 
vagances which  array  infinite  justice  against  your  own  lit- 
tleness. Abandon  those  inappropriate  and  inaccurate  tech- 
nicalities which  confound  all  your  ideas,  drink  up  your 
spirits,  tangle  your  faith  amid  unintelligible  conjectures, 
and  paralyse  your  arm,  while  extending  it  "within  the  vail," 
you  would  lay  hold  on  the  High  Priest's  throne. 

Connecting  the  three  foregoing  items  together,  while  they 
separately  appear  to  be  in  perfect  good  keeping  with  those 
divine  manifestations  of  which  the  scriptures  speak,  they 
seem  to  me  to  unfold,  with  peculiar  beauty  and  vividness, 
the  very  object  of  those  manifestations.  For  if  the  nature 
of  man  requires  them  ;  and  if  God,  instead  of  retiring  with- 
in himself,  steps  forth  to  exhibit  himself,  with  the  intention 
of  meeting  the  necessities  of  our  nature  ;  the  several  trains 
of  operations  which  have  been  affirmed,  must  certainly  fol- 
low. And  if  we  are  to  imitate  his  example,  or  to  carry  out 
into  the  social  relations  of  life  any  general  principles  of 
political  government  which  he  has  taught  us,  then  the  pre- 
ceding; argument  is  accurate  and  conclusive.  For  it  has 
actually  embodied,  in  his  own  example,  those  principles  of 
legislative  and  judicial  policy,  which  are  indispensable  to 
government  among  men.     Nor  can  it  be  a  very  abstruse 

*  Acts  xvii,   31. 
Vol.  I.— 11 


J22  LECTURES  ON 

proposition  to  any  one,  that  the  government  of  the  human 
mind,  whether  administered  by  God  or  man,  must  proceed 
on  the  same  elemental  principles; — simply,  because  it  is 
the  human  mind  which  is  to  be  governed,  and  its  intrinsic 
character  and  active  powers  are  the  same  in  both  cases. 

My  view  on  this  subject  may  not  be  cabalistical  enough 
to  please  those  who  are  ever  roving  through  "the  ideal 
world  of  abstract  unsubstantial  beings  ;"  or  who  are  afraid 
that  light  may  lead  to  error.  Certain  it  is,  that  our  theme 
has  been  divested  of  its  supposed  mystery  ;  and  that  the 
mixture  of  false  philosophy  and  sectarian  theology  which 
the  traditions  of  past  ages  have  imposed  upon  mankind  with 
so  much  empiricism,  has  been  treated  with  very  little  ce- 
remony. An  honest  man,  guided  by  views  so  simple,  may 
well  turn  from  the  mere  sectary,  or  say  to  him,  as  Dio- 
genes did  to  Alexander — "  only  please  to  stand  out  of  my 
sunshine."  I  make  no- apology  for  my  hostility  to  dogmas 
which  no  mortal  man  can  explain  to  me  ;  which  cannot  be 
found  in  the  scriptures  ;  and  which  are  the  stereotyped  de- 
cisions of  the  partial  councils  of  a  degenerate  age  : — dog- 
mas which  display,  it  is  true,  the  royal  signet ;  but  then 
that  signet  is  the  representative  of  an  authority,  generated 
near  four  centuries  after  my  Master  had  gone  to  his  rest, 
and  was  neither  known  nor  acknowledged  by  either  him- 
self or  his  apostles.  But  if  the  views,  simple  as  they  may 
be,  are  scriptural  and  rational,  or  if  they  carry  their  own 
demonstration  to  every  unprejudiced  and  candid  mind,  I 
desire  no  more.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  faulty  and 
defective  in  all  these  respects,  while  I  shall  be  glad  to  see 
them  overthrown,  I  shall  rejoice  that- attention  to  the  scrip- 
tures has  been  sufficiently  roused  to  expose  their  sophistry. 
My  heart  has  no  unhallowed  interest  to  maintain — no  sel- 
fish ambition  to  gratify.  The  Lord  is  judge  over  all  the 
world,  and  searches  every  bosom.  To  his  holy  word  I 
bow  with  supreme  and  unreserved  reverence.  May  all 
the  saints  learn  submission  to  the  law  of  Almighty  God. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT  123 

LECTURE   V. 


Spirit  and  Soul  and  Body — Hypostasis  or  Person — Elokim 
and  Son  of  God  equivalent  titles — The  Redeemer's  expla- 
nation of  Elohim—  Official  men  called  Elokim — Angels 
called  Elohim — Political  Analogies. 

Although  the  subject  of  the  divine  manifestation  has 
been  largely  discussed  in  the  preceding  lectures,  yet  its 
illustrations  may  be  extended  much  farther.  My  own  deep 
solicitude  to  make  the  views  which  have  been  offered,  if  pos- 
sible, perfectly  plain,  has  induced  me  to  invite  your  atten- 
tion to  other  scriptural  details.  And  fondly  would  I  hope 
that,  in  arranging  some  materials  of  a  philosophic  argument, 
which  are  derived  from  portions  of  the  sacred  volume  that 
merit  attention  on  their  own  account,  you  will  lose  none  of 
your  interest  in  the  general  theme.  The  great  principle 
on  which  we  set  out  will  still  be  farther  developed  ;  and, 
by  development,  will  be  more  fully  demonstrated.  That 
principle,  you  remember,  is  that  man  derives  all  his  ideas 
by  means  of  his  senses;  or,  as  lord  Bacon  observes, — "The 
limits  of  the  human  power  and  knowledge  lie  in  the  quali- 
fications wherewith  man  by  nature  is  endowed,  for  acting 
and  perceiving,  and  again  in  the  state  of  things  presented 
to  him  ;  and  beyond  those  limits  his  instruments  and  abili- 
ties can  never  reach." 

We  have  endeavored  to  illustrate  the  Trinity,  as  it  has 
been  termed,  by  comparing  the  scriptural  statements  of  the 
divine  manifestations  with  the  constitution  of  man.  To 
this  train  of  investigation  we  have  been  led  by  no  conceit 
of  our  own,  but  by  the  Spirit  himself.  He  has  unequivo- 
cally and  frequently  asserted  that  man  was,  and  is,  made  in 


124  LECTURES  ON 

the  image  of  God.  Of  course  it  is  both  lawful  and  proper 
for  us  to  inquire,  in  what  the  similitude  consists  ?  In  fact 
ignorance  of  the  one  implies  ignorance  of  the  other;  and 
correct  views  of  the  one  will  necessarily  lead  to  correct 
views  of  the  other;  else  there  is  no  meaning  in  the  asser- 
tion that  the  two  are  alike.  In  then  attempting  to  explain 
the  scriptural  declaration  "that  man  was  made  in  the  im- 
age and  likeness  of  God,"  are  we  presumptuous  when  we 
undertake  to  trace  the  resemblance  ?  Must  not  the  biblical 
expositor  necessarily  pursue  such  a  course  ?  Can  any  sys- 
tem of  philosophy  which  throws  the  subject  into  other  and 
foreign  connexions  be  entitled  to  our  confidence  ?  Or, 
when  the  lovers  of  mystery  pass  by  the  visible  symbols  by 
which  Jehovah  himself  exhibits  truth,  and  which  are  per- 
fectly consistent  with  the  nature  and  operations  of  human 
intellect,  are  those  expositors  doing  any  thing  else  than  co- 
vering their  own  weakness  under  an  inappropriate  techni- 
cality ? 

On  this  principle  of  exposition — or  on  the  scriptural  fact, 
so  broadly  and  unequivocally  stated,  that  man  was  made  in 
the  image  and  after  the  likeness  of  Elohim,  I  have  hitherto 
based  my  argument.  My  remarks  have,  however,  been 
confined  to  one  view  of  that  principle ;  i.  e.  the  likeness 
which  man  bears  to  Elohim  has  been  considered  as  per- 
sonal. Every  human  being,  in  the  constitution  of  his 
own  individual  person,  or  as  having  spirit  and  body,  is  made 
in  the  likeness  of  God.  Jehovah,  in  himself  considered, 
is  a  Spirit;  so  also  man  is  a  spirit.  Jehovah  assumes  ex- 
ternal form,  and  the  human  spirit  is  clothed  with  an  exter- 
nal form.  On  the  supposition  that  the  scriptural  facts  have 
been  accurately  stated,  the  likeness  is  unequivocal ;  and  no 
lover  of  mystery  can  dispute  it.  To  pass  by  these  facts, 
and  to  search  after  likeness  in  some  other  connexion,  while 
professedly  engaged  in  an  attempt  to  explain  the  bible, 
is  to  overlook  the  premises  which  belong  to  the  sub- 
ject.    Whatever  other  premises  may  be  adopted,  it  matters 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  1-25 

not:  the  theologian  and  the  philosopher  have  started  wrong; 
and  though  they  may  reason  most  logically,  yet  their  whole 
argument  must  be  a  mere  sophism.  In  fact  it  is  this  so- 
phism which  they  have  called  mystery. 

Though  a  second  view  of  the  general  principle  is  stretched 
out  on  the  biblical  page,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  yet  let 
us  at  present  return  to  this  primary  view,  for  the  sake  of 
estimating  a  particular  phrase  employed  by  the  apostle 
Paul,  and  which  evolves  a  philosophic  idea  of  great  value 
and  beauty.  In  closing  his  first  epistle  to  the  Thessalo- 
nians,  with  a  heart  heaving  under  all  the  excitement  produ- 
ced by  official  inspiration,  and  yearning  over  the  difficulties 
which  seemed  to  embarrass  some  honest  disciples,  he  uses  this 
singular  language  ; — "And  the  very  God  of  peace  sanctify 
you  wholly:  and  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit,  and  soul, 
and  body,  be  preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."*  Spirit,  and  Soul,  and  Body — what 
does  the  apostle  mean  ?  Are  there  three  constituent  parts 
in  human  nature  ?  The  subject  is  not  more  curious  to  the 
physiologist  than  it  is  important  to  the  moralist  and  per- 
plexing to  the  theologian.  Let  us  endeavor  to  ascertain 
what  the  apostle  meant,  or  to  trace  the  distinction  which 
he  has  stated. 

It  is  scarcely  worth  our  while  to  enter  into  any  verbal  cri- 
ticism, to  which  the  greek  term,  here  rendered  whole,  has 
given  rise  :  a  passing  remark,  however,  may  not  be  impro- 
per. The  term  is  compounded  of  two  words,  which,  taken 
together,  signify  the  whole  lot.  A  very  acute  critic  has  ob- 
served concerning  it — "  The  word  signifies  the  whole  of  a 
thing  given  by  lot ;  consequently  the  whole  of  any  thing ; 
and  here  the  whole  frame  of  our  nature,  our  whole  per- 
son. Accordingly,  Chandler  has  showed  that  this  word  is 
applied  to  a  perfect  city,  whose  buildings  are  all  standing  ; 
and  to  a  perfect  empire  which  hath  all  its  provinces,  and  to 
an  entire  army  whose  troops  are  undiminished  by  any  acci- 

*  1  Thess.  v.  23. 
11* 


126  LECTURES  ON 

dent  or  calamity ;  and  a  man  is  said  to  be  thus  entire,  when 
he  hath  all  his  members  of  body,  and  faculties  of  mind  : — 
the  entire  person,  consisting  of  spirit,  soul  and  body."*  The 
apostle  James  uses  the  word  in  a  similar  manner,  when 
he  says — "Let  patience  have  her  perfect  work,  that 
ye  may  be  perfect  and  entire,  wanting  nothing."  But  to 
return  to  the  broad  question — what  does  the  inspired  writer 
mean  by  spirit,  and  soul,  and  body  ? 

The  general  idea  which  has  been,  and,  as  I  believe,  still 
is  entertained  in  relation  to  this  physiological  distinction  is, 
that  body  is  a  mere  appellative  of  the  animal  frame  ;  that 
soul  expresses  the  principle  of  life  which  animates  that 
frame,  or  that  which  is  the  seat  of  the  different  affections 
and  passions,  sensations  and  appetites :  and  that  spirit  sig- 
nifies the  intellectual,  immortal  part  of  man.  The  distinc- 
tion has  been  variously  stated,  and  perhaps  I  shall  furnish 
you  with  a  more  accurate  idea  of  the  doctrine  of  theologians 
and  philosophers  in  reference  to  it,  by  quoting  their  own 
observations. 

Chandler  says — "This  threefold  division  of  man  is 
agreeable  to  the  sentiments  of  the  ancients,  who  considered 
him  as  a  being  compounded  of  the  mind  or  spirit,  the  prin- 
ciple of  rational  life  ;  of  the  soul,  the  principle  of  the  sen- 
sative  life;  and  of  the  body,  the  mere  animal,  brutal,  or 
vegetative  part." 

Whitby  remarks — "  Here  the  apostle  justifies  the  ancient 
and  true  philosophy,  that  man  is,  as  Nemesius  styles  him,  a 
compound  (hypostasis)  of  three  different  parts.  This  was 
the  doctrine  of  the  Pythagoreans,  as  we  learn  from  Jambili- 
cus,  who,  having  told  us  that  man  consists  of  soul  and  body, 
adds  that  the  soul  consists  of  two  parts,  one  endued  with 
reason,  and  one  without  reason.  This  also  was  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  Platonists,  as  we  learn  from  Nemesius.  Sallust 
and  Laertius,  who  inform  us  that  there  is  in  man  a  soul  ir- 
rational, which  follows  the  affections  of  the  body  :  and 
*  See  Macknight  and  Chandler  on  the  place. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  127 

a  mind  which  useth  the  body  as  its  instrument,  and  fights 
against  it.  This  also  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Stoics  ;  whence 
Antoninus  saith,  the  three  constituent  parts  of  man  are 
the  body,  soul  and  mind.  Irenseus  and  Clemens  of  Alexan- 
dria and  Origen  say  the  same.  Mr.  Le  Clerc  is  very  positive 
that  this  philosophy  is  false,  and  that  there  is  nothing  in  man 
but  his  body  and  his  reasonable  soul ;  but  he  saith  nothing 
to  sustain  this  confidence  against  those  two  excellent  philo- 
sophers, Gassendus  and  Dr.  Willis,  who  have  established  this 
philosophy  beyond  all  reasonable  contradiction.  Nor  can 
the  conflict  betwixt  the  mind  and  spirit  and  jiesh  mentioned 
by  the  apostlet  be  explained ;  nor  can  any  man  tell  what 
the  ruling  principle  in  us  is  to  govern,  without  admitting 
this  inferior  soul  as  the  fountain  of  all  our  sensual  appe- 
tites ;  or  even  tell  us  what  it  is  to  die,  unless  it  be  to  make 
this  inferior  soul,  which  consists  in  the  motion  of  the  ani- 
mal spirits  and  the  sensitive  appetites  they  produce  in  us. 
to  cease  to  act,  or  move  as  formerly." 

Thus  much  have  we  been  confidently  taught  by  philoso- 
phers and  theologians,  ancient  and  modern.  May  we  dis- 
pute what  they  say  ?  or  is  all  farther  inquiry  foreclosed?  Is 
all  this  philosophy  true  ?  Has  man  two  souls — a  superior 
and  inferior  ?  Or  was  Mr.  Le  Clerc  right  when  he  boldly 
asserted  that  there  is  nothing  in  man  but  his  body  and  his 
reasonable  soul  ?  Shall  we  let  go  tradition,  and  turn  to  the 
scriptures  ?  You  see  there  is  some  collision — the  matter  is 
not  fairly  or  finally  decided. 

The  question  has  a  very  important  bearing  on  our  gene- 
ral subject.  For  if  philosophers  and  theologians  cannot  tell 
us  what  the  human  hypostasis  or  person  is,  or  if  they  cannot 
tell  what  man  is  as  a  compound  of  three  different  parts  ;  and 
if  man  is  made  in  the  image  and  after  the  likeness  of  God. 
is  it  any  matter  of  wonder  that  they  should  fail  to  explain 
what  the  divine  hypostasis,  or  person,  of  which  Paul  speaks, 
is?  or  that  they  should  be  incapable  of  intelligently  or  in- 
*  Rom.  vii.  14—25.  Gal.  v.  16—17. 


128  "     LECTURES  ON 

telligibly  declaring  what  the  divine  compound,  scripturally 

called  Elohim,  and  theologically  denominated  Trinity,  is? 

How  should  any  man,  whether  he  glories  in  reason  or  in 

revelation,  understand  any  subject  of  whose  symbols  and 

„  types  he  has  no  accurate  nor  established  ideas  ?  Dogmatism 

under  such  circumstances,  we  may  safely  leave  as  the  boast 

of  antiquity.     But,  unless  we  mean  to  disgrace  the  age  in 

which  we  live,  turn  recreant  to  the  promises  of  a  moral 

reformation  given  by  him 

Who  plants  his  footsteps  in  the  sea, 
And  rides  upon  the  storm, 

or  quench  the  inspiration  which  he  is  breathing  over  the 
nations,  we  must  discard  all  such  official  empiricism,  and 
try  again  the  question  for  ourselves. — We  return  to  the  in- 
quiry, what  does  the  apostle  mean  by  Spirit  and  Soul  and 
Body  ? 

In  the  hebrew  bible  there  are  two  words — Ruach,  (Spirit) 
and  Nephesh,  (Soul)  and  in  the  greek  new  testament,  as 
well  as  in  the  septuagint  or  greek  translation  of  the  old, 
there  are  two  words — Pneuma  (Spirit)  and  Psyche,  (Soul) 
which  are  as  distinct  in  their  own  languages  as  Spirit  and 
Soul  are  in  English.  These  terms  are  never  confounded 
together  ;  but  are  as  different  as  terms  can  be  in  their  gene- 
ral import  and  in  their  actual  use.  The  septuagint  in  trans- 
lating, or  the  new  testament  in  quoting,  the  old  testament 
are  very  exact  in  rendering  Ruach,  (Spirit)  by  Pneuma, 
(Spirit)  and  Nephesh,  (Soul)  by  Psyche,  (Soul.)  Spirit  and 
Soul  and  Body  are  not  then  mere  indifferent  or  equivalent 
terms,  occurring  only  in  the  text  which  has  been  furnished. 
As  symbols  of  separate  ideas,  those  terms  are  incorporated 
in  the  languages  in  which  the  scriptures  were  written.  And 
from  the  quotations  already  given,  various  philosophers  as 
well  as  theologians  have  referred  to  the  difference  as  belong- 
ing to  the  philosophy  of  human  nature.  So  that,  in  the 
constitution  of  the  human  person  or  hypostasis,  we  may 
most  clearly  recognise  what  might  be  called  Trinity :  and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  129 

the  confident  controvertist  might  be  very  properly  asked 
whether  he  would  explain  that  trinity  as  implying  three 
persons? 

It  may  next  be  remarked,  that  these  terms  are  applied  to 
brutes.  That  they  have  bodies  none  will  stop  a  moment  to 
dispute.  That  they  have  souls  is  admitted  by  all.  and  is 
plainly  taught  in  the  scriptures,  if  the  application  to  them 
of  the  hebrew  Nephesh,  (Soul)  or  the  greek  Psyche,  (Soul) 
can  be  any  evidence  in  the  case.  For  example  : — In  the 
account  given  of  the  creation,  Elohim  is  represented  to 
have  said — "  Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abundantly  the 
moving  creature  that  hath  a  living  (Nephesh,  Psyche)  soul. 
Thus  also  he  spake  to  Noah — "  And  with  every  living 
(Nephesh,  Psyche)  soul  that  is  with  you,  of  the  fowl,  of 
the  cattle,  and  of  every  beast  of  the  earth  with  you,  &c." 
Other  instances  might  be  collected,  but  these  must  suffice. 
That  spirit  is  applied  to  them  must  also  be  admitted,  for 
Solomon  says — "  Whoknoweth  the  spirit  (Ruach  Pneuma) 
of  a  man  thatgoeth  upward,  or  the  spirit  (Ruach  Pneuma) 
of  the  beast  that  goeth  downward  to  the  earth."*  In  this 
single  instance,  in  which  the  term  spirit  is  applied  to  brutes, 
you  will  please  observe  that  it  is  not  so  used  until  that  thing, 
which  had  before  been  familiarly  called  soul,  has  left  the 
bod}\  Whatever  may  be  its  destiny,  it  does  not  belong  to 
our  discussion  to  determine,  nor  even  with  Solomon  to  ask. 
"  who  knoweth  ?"  But  we  have  a  right  to  inquire  in  view 
of  the  ancient  and  popular  philosophy,  whether  brutes  have 
two  souls  ? — one  rational  and  superior,  and  the  other  ir- 
rational and  inferior.  If  we  shrink  from  an  affirmative  re- 
ply, then  we  must  abandon  the  philosophy  which  offers 
such  a  speculation  in  tracing  the  distinction  between  soul 
and  spirit  in  reference  to  man.  That  philosophy,  it  seems 
tome,  must  necessaril}r be  false.     How  can  it  be  true  ? 

But  still  farther  let  it  be  observed,  that  these  same  pecu- 
liarities are  affirmed,   or  predicated  of  God.     Singular  as 

Ecc.  iii.  21. 


130  LECTURES  ON 

the  idea  may  appear  to  you,  yet  the  scriptures  sustain  it  as 
literally  true.  That  spirit  is  predicated  of  God,  no  one  will 
question  who  is  not  ignorant  of  the  doctrine  and  influences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  who  remembers  that  Jesus  said — 
God  is  a  Spirit.  That  body  or  form  is  alike  ascribed  to 
him,  must  have  been  rendered  ver}r  apparent  by  our  pre- 
ceding argument  in  reference  to  the  twofold  manifestation 
which  Jehovah  has  made  of  himself.  But  can  Elohim 
be  said  to  have  a  Soul  ?  or  can  that  Soul  be,  in  any  cor- 
rect sense,  distinguished  from  his  Spirit,  and  so  as  to  make 
the  description  of  him  entire,  when  we  ascribe  to  him 
Spirit  and  Soul  and  Body  ?  We  have  no  reason  to  be  afraid 
to  listen  when  God  himself  speaks.  Hear  what  he  says — 
i  T  will  set  my  tabernacle  among  you, and  my  Soul  (Nephesh, 
Psyche)  shall  not  abhor  you."*  "  I  will  destroy  your  high 
places,  and  my  Soul  (Nephesh,  Psyche)  shall  abhor  you."f 
u  And  they  put  away  the  strange  gods  from  among  them, 
and  served  the  Lord  :  and  his  Soul  (Nephesh,  Psyche)  was 
grieved  for  the  misery  of  Israel." X  "  Your  new  moons  and 
your  feasts  my  Soul  (Nephesh,  Psyche)  hateth."§  "  Be- 
hold mine  elect  in  whom  my  Soul  (Nephesh,  Psyche)  de- 
lighteth."||  Other  passages  of  a  similar  character  might 
be  adduced ;  but  I  presume  they  are  not  needed.  Soul 
then,  as  well  as  spirit  and  form,  is  in  the  bible  ascribed  to 
God.  Is  not  trinity  in  God  analogous  to  trinity  in  man  ?  Is 
not  man  made  in  the  image  and  after  the  likeness  of  God  ? 
Are  not  the  two  alike  ? 

Shall  we  now  assert,  according  to  the  philosophy  so  con- 
fidently advanced,  that  there  are  two  souls  in  God  ? — one 
rational  and  superior,  and  another  inferior  and  irrational. 
May  not  this  view  have  suggested  the  Arian  peculiarity  ? 
Or  is  it  an  improbable  hypothesis  that  this  very  philosophy 
naturally  or  logically  leads  to  that  mischievous  sophism  ? 
May  I  not  again  assert  that  the  common  idea  in  reference 

*Lev.  xxvi.  11.  fV.  30,  J  Jud.  x.  16. 

§  Is.  i.  14.  ||Is.  xlii.  1. 


moral  governmp:nt.  131 

to  the  distinction  between  soul  and  spirit  is  necessarily  false  ? 
or  ask,  how  can  it  be  true  ? 

I  know  very  well  that  it  may  be,  or  has  been,  said  that 
these  terms  are  employed  by  Jehovah,  when  speaking  of 
himself,  out  of  condescension  to  our  infirmities  ;  as  he  must 
use  our  own  language  in  addressing  us,  or  not  be  under- 
stood. But  this  explanation  concedes  the  very  principle 
on  which  our  argument  is  based ;  viz .  that  as  we  are  not 
competent  to  perceive  or  comprehend  a  mere  abstraction,  or 
as  we  have  no  innate  ideas,  and  acquire  no  ideas  excepting 
by  means  of  our  senses,  Jehovah  must  descend  to  our  le- 
vel. We  cannot  perceive  or  comprehend  pure  spirit; — 
not  even  the  spirit  of  a  fellow  man ;  and  much  less  God 
who  is  a  Spirit.  Or, — for  I  desire  the  principle  of  our  ar- 
gument to  be  fully  apprehended — as  another  has  finely  ob- 
served, "  Whatever  independent  existence  may  belong  to 
qualities,  we  can  only  come  to  the  knowledge  of  them  by 
the  substances  wherein  they  inhere :  nature  exhibits  noth- 
ing abstracted  to  our  view ;  the  abstract  must  be  learned 
from  the  concrete.  We  should  never  have  known  what 
whiteness  was,  had  we  not  seen  something  white  ;  nor  hard- 
ness, had  we  not  felt  something  hard.  So  neither  could 
we  have  known  what  justice  or  goodness  were,  had  we  not 
seen  the  actions  of  men,  and  observed  how  their  sentiments 
influence  their  behaviour."*  As  then,  for  the  purposes  of 
fraternal  fellowship,  the  spirit  of  our  fellow  man  must  be 
clothed  with  external  form,  so  God  must  condescend  to  be 
clothed  with  external  form,  in  order  that  we  may  hold  com- 
munion with  him. 

The  simple  difference  between  the  concession  thus  made 
and  the  doctrine  advanced  in  these  lectures,  is,  that  the  one 
makes  the  condescension  a  mere  figure  of  speech,  the  other 
contemplates  bodily  form.  The  one  is  personification,  the 
other  is  person.  Which  is  best  ?  is  most  suitable  to  the  pe- 
culiarities of  human  nature  ?  or  most  effectually  secures  the 

*  Tucker's  Light  of  Nature — Intr.  p.  xxiv. 


13-2  LECTURES  ON 

object  in  view  ?  Which  comports  best  with  the  fact  that 
man  was  made  in  the  image  and  after  the  likeness  of  God  ? 
Which  quadrates  most  evidently  with  the  endlessly  varied 
series  of  emblems  under  which  God  has  exhibited  himsejf  ? 
with  the  numerous  appearances  recorded  to  have  occurred 
during  patriarchal  times,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  Mo- 
saic economy?  or  with  the  history  of  all  the  marvelous 
and  o;racious  transactions  of  God  manifested  in  the  flesh  ? 
When  the  three  angels  appeared  to  Abraham,  one  of  whom 
is  afterwards  recognised  to  be  the  Lord,  and  when  they  did 
eat  of  the  morsel  which  the  patriarch  prepared,  was  all  this 
a  mere  figure  ?  Would  you  convert  a  biblical  reality  into  a 
sectarian  metaphor  ?  Or  how  is  it  that  the  advocates  of 
physical  power  glide  here  so  easily  into  moral  influence  ? 
But  we  shall  presently  return  to  this  inquiry.  The  origi- 
nal question  must  now  be  answered — what  is  the  difference 
between  Spirit  and  Soul? 

You  remember  that,  speaking  of  Jehovah  as  he  is  in 
himself,  the  Redeemer  says,  he  is  a  Spirit.  This  view  is 
predicated  of  Jehovah  irrespective  of  any  external  form  he 
may  assume,  and  without  any  reference  to  person  or  per- 
sonification. Whenever  you  speak  of  hands,  feet,  face  or 
mouth,  you  allude  to  something  more  than  Spirit.  The 
scriptural  application  of  these  terms  to  God  led  the  apostle 
Paul  to  speak  of  his  Person  ;  and  induces  some  theolo- 
gians to  adopt  the  exegetical  idea  of  personification.  With- 
out one  or  the  other  of  those  views  it  is  impossible  to  ex- 
plain biblical  phraseology  ;  because  that  phraseology  is  in- 
compatible with  all  our  ideas  of  spirit.  No  trinitarian 
would  brook  the  imputation  of  advancing  the  doctrine  of 
three  spirits,  when  he  says  that  there  are  three  persons 
in  the  Godhead.  Such  a  use  of  terms  is  altogether  incon- 
gruous. 

In  like  manner,  when  speaking  of  the  human  constitu- 
tion, we  readily  describe  it  as  comprising  spirit  and  body : 
and  in  general  terms  talk  of  spirit  and  matter,  of  spiritual 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  I33 

things  and  carnal  or  material  things,  as  though  this  Were  a 
familiar  and  well  understood  distinction.  So  Paul  speaks 
of  the  spirit  and  the  body — of  the  mind  and  the  flesh — of 
being  "put  to  death  in  the  flesh  and  quickened  in  the  spi- 
rit." The  difference  cannot  be  more  strikingly  set  forth 
than  by  calling  up  the  common  idea  that  the  body  is  mortal 
and  the  spirit  immortal. 

On  a  certain  occasion,  when  Jesus  after  his  resurrection 
appeared  among  his  disciples,  they  were  affrighted,  and 
supposed  that  they  had  seen  a  spirit.  He  immediately 
sought  to  calm  their  fears,  and  remarked — "a  spirit  hath 
not  flesh  and  bones  as  }^e  see  me  have."  And  afterwards 
his  apostle  affirmed  that  "flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God."  The  body  returns  to  the  dust,  and  the 
spirit  returns  to  God  who  gave  it. 

Taking  these  general  ideas  together,  there  can  be  no  dif- 
ficulty in  ascertaining  the  import  of  the  term  spirit — Ruach 
or  Pneuma.  It  is  used  in  allusion  to  the  intellectual  part  of 
man  as  it  is  in  itself,  or  as  it  is  in  a  state  of  existence  sep- 
arate from  the  body,  or  in  view  of  any  series  of  influences 
and  actions  which  may  be  referred  to  it  independently  of  his 
bodily  presence.  So  also  the  term  is  applied  to  God,  when 
we  would  speak  of  him  as  he  is  in  himself,  or  as  he  may 
act  independently  of  the  external  form  he  may  have  assum- 
ed. The  terms  Holy  Spirit  are  used  in  reference  to  Je- 
hovah, or  to  any  series  of  operations  which  he  may  carry  on 
among  men,  in  this  connexion  :  We  cannot  see  the  face 
of  God  and  live — Jesus  has  gone  to  the  Father,  and  we 
henceforth  know  him  no  more  "after  the  flesh."  There  is 
really  then  no  more  confusion  or  difficulty  in  the  double 
use  of  this  term  in  relation  to  Jehovah,  than  there  is  in  the 
double  use  of  it  in  reference  to  man.  And  as  we  cannot 
speak  of  man  and  his  operations  in  any  other  way,  seeing 
that  his  spirit  is  clothed  with  body,  that  it  may  exert  an  in- 
fluence without  a  bodily  presence,  and  that  it  may  exist  in 
a  separate  state  when  the  body  is  mouldering  in  the  grave ; 
Vol.  I— 12 


134  LECTURES  ON 

so  we  cannot  speak  of  Jehovah  in  any  other  way,  if  he  has 
actually  assumed  external  form,  if  that  form  is  removed  from 
our  sight  while  we  yet  feel  his  influence,  and  if  he  may, 
independently  of  that  form,  be  every  where  present  and 
superintend  all  his  works. 

Admitting  all  this  to  be  true,  it  still  remains  for  us  to  as- 
certain the  import  of  the  term  Soul  ?  And  here  it  is  to  be 
remarked,  that  the  hebrew  Mephesh  and  the  greek  Psyche, 
which  are  so  frequently  rendered  soul,  mean  a  breathing 
frame — a  frame  or  body  that  has  breathed — the  blood  in 
which  is  the  life.  Hence  Paul  represents  Adam,  when 
first  formed,  to  have  been  a  living  soul.  Of  course, 
the  term  soul  must  somehow  or  other  refer  to  the  principle 
of  life  in  the  body.  Now,  as  the  apostle  James  tells  us 
that  "the  body  without  the  spirit  is  dead,"  it  will  follow 
that  the  indwelling  of  the  spirit  is  the  principle  of  life. 
Soul  then  is  a  mere  technicality  belonging  to  the  spirit  as 
embodied.  It  is  still  that  same  intellectual  part  of  man, 
which  we  have  been  describing  as  spirit. 

I  would  not  be  understood  to  say,  that  the  intellectual 
part  of  man  is  not,  or  cannot  be,  properly  called  spirit, 
while  residing  in  its  animal  body  ;  for  in  this  connexion  it 
does  not  become  material,  nor  cease  to  be  spirit.  In  the 
scriptures  it  is  very  frequently,  while  embodied,  denomi- 
nated spirit.  But  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  not  aware  of  any 
instance  in  which  the  term  soul  is  applied  toman's  intel- 
lectual self,  when  presented  apart  from,  or  irrespective  of, 
his  bodily  relations.  Even  in  the  case  of  brutes,  that  thing 
in  them  which,  while  they  live,  is  called  soul,  is,  when 
escaped  from  its  animal  frame  and  descending  to  the  earth, 
denominated  spirit.  "The  spirit  (Ruach,  Pneuma)  of  a 
beast,"  says  Solomon,  "goeth  downward  to  the  earth." 

The  distinction  between  soul  and  spirit  then  is  simply 
this : — Spirit  means  the  intellectual  part  of  man,  viewed 
in  contrast  with,  or  existing  separate  from,  or  acting  inde- 
pendently of,  the  body.     Soul  is  that  same  intellectual 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  135 

part  of  man  in  its  embodied  state.  And  if  this  distinction 
be  both  philologically  and  philosophically  accurate,  Mr.  Le 
Clerc  was  perfectly  right  when  he  said  that  "there  is  no- 
thing in  man  but  his  body  and  his  reasonable  soul."  The 
idea  of  an  inferior,  or  irrational  soul  in  man  is  as  futile  in 
philosophy,  as  the  notion  of  an  inferior  God,  attributed  to 
Arius,  is  in  theology.  And  we  may  consider  ourselves  to 
have  acquired  an  idea,  in  both  departments,  clear  and  in- 
telligible. For  as  man,  considered  as  mere  spirit,  cannot 
be  the  object  of  our  perceptions,  nor  a  companion  in  our 
daily  intercourse,  so  we  can  have  no  knowledge  of,  nor 
communion  with  God,  viewed  as  simple  spirit.  But  when 
the  human  spirit  is  clothed  with  external  form,  and  soul  is 
introduced  to  our  companionship,  i.  e.  when  the  thinking 
spirit  is  brought  to  act  on  principles  belonging  to  the  world 
in  which  we  dwell,  all  difficulty  ceases,  because  the  mere 
abstraction  is  removed.  So,  when  Jehovah  assumes  form, 
and  soul  is  predicated  of  him,  a  companionship  is  thereby 
possible  upon  the  principles  of  our  own  nature  ;  and  the 
divine  actions  become  the  appropriate  subjects  of  oui 
thought  and  observation. 

The  foregoing  remarks  being  true,  it  necessarily  follows, 
that  spirit  and  soul  and  form  being  predicated  in  the  scrip- 
tures of  God,  it  is  their  intention  to  exhibit  to  us  a  divine 
Person.  A  mere  personification  does  not  meet  their  repre- 
sentations. It  is  the  thing  -itself  they  describe.  Not  that. 
God,  who  is  a  pure  Spirit,  has  form  or  body  considered  in 
view  of  the  constitution  of  his  own  nature,  so  to  speak  : 
but,  for  the  purpose  of  manifestation  to  us,  he  assumes 
form — "the  form  of  God,"  as  Paul  observes;  and  this  form 
being  thus  assumed,  his  Spirit  dwelling  in  that  form,  and 
acting  consistently  therewith,  soul  is  thus  presented,  and 
a  person  or  hypostasis  is  brought  to  our  view.  There  are 
not  three  spirits  dwelling  in  three  distinct  forms,  beget- 
ting the  idea  of  three  distinct  souls,  and  so  constituting 
three   persons.     Such  a  notion  is  contrary  both  to  the 


136  LECTURES  ON 

scriptures  and  to  philosophy ;  and  has  nothing  correspou-. 
dent  with  it  in  the  nature  of  man.  Yet  this  is  the  real 
amount  of  the  popular  doctrine  on  the  subject ;  and  it  is 
no  wonder  that  the  doctrine  is  so  determinedly  assaulted  by 
some,  while  it  is  said  to  be  mysterious  by  its  friends.  The 
most  strenuous  advocates  of  trinity,  popularly  so  called,  admit 
the  difficulty,  and  say,  in  reference  to  the  term  person—^ 
"We  mean  something  of  a  quite  different  kind  from  the 
person  of  a  man  upon  earth.  But  it  is  a  word  we  must 
use,  like  the  word  father,  because  we  have  no  other 
word  to  express  ijt  by:"#  i.  e.  they  wish  to  throw  in  upon 
the  human  mind  an  idea,  which  has  no  nearer  symbol  in 
language  than  a  term  which  is  a  symbol  of  something  en- 
tirely different ;  which  very  term  the  Spirit  himself  em- 
ploys to  explain  the  subject,  in  view  of  which  they  declare 
that  term  to  be  utterly  incompetent.  But  why  should  they 
be  so  fastidious  as  to  the  import  of  the  term,  when  the 
very  things  which  are  confessedly  the  constituent  parts  of 
the  human  person,  i.  e.  Spirit  and  Soul  and  Body,  are 
declared  to  characterize  the  divine  person?  The  real  diffi-. 
culty  is  here.  They  cannot  use  that  term  in  its  proper 
sense  while  they  maintain  that  there  are  three  divine  per- 
sons. Could  they  admit  the  idea  that  there  is  but  one  di- 
vine person,  then  they  would  necessarily  and  easily  ex- 
plain the  facts,  on  which  they  base  their  doctrine,  by  an 
accurate  philosophy  of  Spirit  and  Soul  and  Body. 

Some  might  probably  consider  the  preceding  views  as 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  revival  of  the  old  doctrine  of- 
anthropomorphism,  or  the  idea  of  God  having  a  "  human 
shape;"  and  would  consequently  reprobate  the  whole  ar-. 
gument  as  a  mere  platform  on  which  the  idolatrous  ceremo- 
nies of  the  heathen  might  be  re-exhibited.  Or  at  least 
it  might  be  supposed,  that  in  pursuing  such  a  mode  of  rea- 
soning, we  should  be  merely  treading  in  the  steps  of  Lac- 
tantius,  a  christian  father  of  the  fourth  century ;  who. 

*  Leslie's  Works,  Fol.  vol.  i.  p.  226. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  137 

in  defending  Christianity  against  the  notion  of  pagan  philo- 
sophers— "That  God  could  not  be  angry,  and  therefore 
could  not  reward  or  punish,"  "contends  strongly,"  says 
bishop  Warburton,  "for  God's  having  a  human  form."* 

This  criticism,  however,  would  betray  an  entire  misap- 
prehension of  the  views  expressed.  The  idea  urged  in 
the  foregoing  remarks  is  not  intended  to  degrade  the  Crea- 
tor, by  making  him  like  man,  as  the  ancient  idolaters  did ; 
but  to  elevate  man  by  making  him  like  God.  And  that 
very  elevatian  of  man,  not  only  corresponds  with  his  na- 
ture and  the  design  of  his  existence,  but  is  the  supreme 
object  of  the  whole  divine  administration  in  the  world. 
Nay,  in  the  execution  of  that  object,  Jehovah-Elohim  does 
finally  humble  himself  to  be  found  in  "human  shape,"  or 
in  "the  form  of  a  man."  And  would  any  christian,  who 
could  be  supposed  to  make  the  objection  I  am  considering, 
reject  the  mediatorial  manifestation,  as  the  old  heresy  of 
anthropomorphism  ?  or  as  the  witless  conceit  of  Lactan- 
tius  ? 

But  let  it  be  remembered,  that  our  present  argument  does 
not  embrace  the  mediatorial  manifestation  at  all.  That  will 
come  up  for  consideration  in  its  proper  place.  We  are  now 
speaking  of  the  first  manifestation — of  the  original  person 
or  hypostasis  of  which  "the  Son  was  the  exact  image," 
and  of  which  alone,  in  view  of  God,  "spirit  and  soul  and 
form"  are  predicated.  We  are  not  referring  in  our  argu- 
ment at  all  to  a  human  shape;  but  to  "the  form  of  God," 
in  which  God,  who  is  a  Spirit,  dwelt  at  first ;  and  in  con- 
nexion with  which  alone  we  hear  any  thing  of  "the  soul" 
of  God.  When  we  come  to  look  at  the  Spirit  of  God  dwell- 
ing: &  a  human  form,  we  shall  find  that  the  scriptures  never 
speak  of  the  soul  of  God  in  relation  to  that  manifestation. 
In  that  case  the  soul  was  human;  because  "the  man 
Christ  Jesus"  had  a  human  spirit.  We  cannot,  therefore, 
in  maintaining  our  present  views,  however  peculiar  they 
*Div.  Leg.  of  Moses,  vol.  i.  p.  394-5.  B.  3,  sec.  4. 
12* 


138  LECTURES  OIV 

may  be  thought  to  be,  be  fairly  charged  with  diverging 
into  anthropomorphism,  or  any  other  ancient  absurdity, 
either  of  pagan  philosophers  or  christian  fathers. 

But  if  our  argument  has  not  yet  overcome  the  popular 
prejudice  on  the  general  subject,  or  if  we  are  still  thought 
to  be  compromitting  the  dignity  of  the  scriptural  doctrine, 
when  we  exhibit  the  human  person  to  be  made  like  the 
divine  Person,  and  hold  forth  the  idea  of  one  divine  Per- 
son, let  us  go  a  step  farther.  An  apostle  tells  us  that  the 
Son  of  God  was  "the  exact  image  of  God's  Person."* 
Here  then  is  a  Person  of  God.  But  here  there  are  not 
three  divine  Persons.  If  there  were  three,  who  could 
understand  the  apostle's  declaration  ?  If  there  be  but  one, 
who  can  misunderstand  it  ?  If  in  relation  to  that  one  "  the 
form  of  God"  is  spoken  of,  and  of  that  "form  of  God"  hands, 
feet,  face,  and  back  parts  are  predicated,  then  the  two 
manifestations — the  two  testaments — nature  and  revelation 
—God  and  man — -the  original  Elohim  and  every  image,  both 
personal  and  official,  precisely  correspond  and  harmonize. 
The  whole  subject  is  divested  of  abstraction  ;  and,  by  the 
use  of  appropriate  and  competent  symbols,  is  brought  with- 
in the  range  of  our  perceptions,  agreeably  to  the  divine  de- 
sign. 

But  still  you  are  afraid  of  idolatry.  And  why  ?  You  cannot 
conceive  of  Jehovah  dwelling  in  one  place  more  than  in  ano- 
ther, you  say.  But  can  you  conceive  of  him  in  any  other 
way  ?  Try  it.  God  is  every  where  present.  What  is  every 
vjherel  Infinite  space — would  you  reply  ?  And  what  is  infinite 
space  ?  You  are  helping  us  to  understand  one  abstraction 
by  introducing  another.  You  know  no  more  about  infinite 
space  than  you  do  about  abstract  deity.  Every  where 
means,  with  you,  just  so  much  of  space  as  is  filled  up  by 
objects  which  you  can  recognise.  Or  if,  in  the  might  of 
your  mental  conceptions,  and  the  majesty  of  your  intellec- 
tual march,  you  begin  to  talk  about  other  worlds,  and  sys- 

*Heb.  i.  3. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  139 

terns  of  worlds,  yet  you  carry  the  idea  of  worlds  along 
with  you.  What  can  you  say  about  mere  vacuity  ?  or 
what  idea  have  you  of  space  ?  You  have  no  knowledge  of 
God  but  as  you  recognise  him  in  his  works. 

Try  the  same  process  with  a  human,  or  any  other  spirit  ? 
What  do  you  know  of  a  human  being  but  by  his  works  ? 
What  intercourse  can  you  have  with  him  but  by  personal 
acts  ?  Or  how  much  can  you  tell  of  angels,  either  good  or 
bad? 

Idolatry  has  existed  in  the  world.  Mankind  have  talked 
about  "many  gods,"  and  "many  lords,"  or  persons.  But 
how  was  idolatry  introduced  ?  Was  it  by  attempting  to  con- 
ceive of  that  which  had  no  subsistence,  or  by  undertaking  to 
multiply  that  which  really  did  subsist  ?  And  how  would  in- 
spired writers  correct  idolatry?  By  telling  us  that  there  was 
no  divine  person?  Or  by  declaring  that  there  was  but  one 
divine  person  ?  If  then  theologians  tell  us  that  there  are 
three  Persons,  and  if  they  are  really  in  error  in  such  an  affir- 
mation, shall  we  correct  their  error  by  asserting  that  there 
is  no  divine  Person  at  all  ?  Or  how  do  I  lead  you  into 
idolatry,  by  declaring  that  there  is  but  one  divine  Person, 
when  the  very  essence  of  idolatry  is  that  there  are  many 
divine  Persons  ?  By  the  declaration  of  Moses,  Jehovah  as 
Elohim  is  one  Jehovah.  By  the  declaration  of  Paul,  there 
is  one  God  and  one  Lord — one  Person,  of  which  the  Son 
of  God  is  the  exact  image. 

The  original  term  hypostasis,  which  in  the  text  refer- 
red to  has  been  translated  person,  is  used  several  times  in 
the  new  testament.  It  is  however,  never  rendered  person 
in  our  version,  except  in  that  single  instance.  The  transla- 
tors have  preferred,  or  rather  from  the  nature  of  the  case 
they  were  obliged  to  use,  other  words: — confidence  and  sub- 
stance. It  may  well  be  asked,  what  common  idea  can  be- 
long to  these  three  english  words — person,  substance,  confi- 
dence— that  they  should  all  be  employed  to  translate  the 
single  term  hypostasis  ?     I  know  no  better  answer  to  this 


140  LECTURES  ON 

question,  than  that  which  is  necessarily  implied  in  the  phi- 
losophical  principle  so  often  urged  in  these  lectures  *  We 
obtain  our  ideas  by  means  of  our  senses.  A  mere  abstrac- 
tion we  cannot  apprehend.  The  subjects  of  human  know- 
ledge must  be  identified  with  something  material  or  exter- 
nal. Any  quality,  such  as  goodness,  wisdom,  or  power, 
can  be  understood  only  by  becoming  the  attribute  of  some- 
thing which  falls  within  the  range  of  our  perceptions. 
That  something  may  be  what  we  would  very  properly 
denominate  substance.  But  if  an  intelligent  being,  who 
in  his  essence  is  simple  spirit,  should  intend  to  afford  us  in- 
tercourse with  himself,  and  for  that  purpose  should  assume 
external  form,  then,  though  that  form  would  be  substance, 
yet  this  term  would  give  place,  and  the  term  person  would 
be  more  proper.  Without  such  provisions,  so  exactly  suit- 
ed to  our  nature,  or  to  our  present  mode  of  existence,  we 
might  conjecture  or  form  an  hypothesis,  but  we  could  go  no 
farther.  With  such  helps  we  may  arrive  at  the  most  per- 
fect CONFIDENCE. 

Beings  or  things  naturally  elevated  above  or  thrown  be- 
yond the  sphere  of  our  perceptions,  when  brought  within 
that  sphere  by  the  assumption  of  form,  or  an  identification 
with  some  external  symbol,  are  said  to  subsist,  or  to  have  a 
subsistence.  Hence  the  latin  word  persona,  from  which 
our  english  word  person  is  derived,  in  its  primary  sense  was 
employed  to  express  or  signify  a  mask,  worn  by  actors  on  the 
s-tage.  An  apparent  or  visible  form  was  thus  given  to  a 
character,  which  otherwise  might  have  been  purely  ideal. 
If  we  ascribe  to  an  inanimate  thing  the  sentiments  or  lan- 
guage, or  actions  of  a  rational  being,  we  are  said  to  per- 
sonify. Thus  we  might  at  any  time  create  a  Salathiel  or 
a  Washington,  and  thereby  personify  the  spirit  of  the 
Jewish  community  or  that  of  the  American  nation.  In 
fact  some  of  the  modern  Jews  supposed  Isaiah  to  have 
done  this  when  he  wrote  the  fifty  third  chapter  of  his  pro- 
phecies :— *."  The  person  then  spoken  of  was  not,  they  say, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  141 

any  particular  person,  but  only  the  description  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Jews  in  the  name  of  a  person ;  and  of  their  pre- 
sent dispersion  through  all  nations,  with  the  contempt  and 
misery  which  they  suffer."  Nothing  is  more  common  than 
this  figurative  mode  of  illustration,  nor  better  suited  to  the 
character  of  our  intellectual  exercises.  If  then  Jehovah 
should  have  assumed  form,  for  the  purpose  of  manifesting 
himself  to  beings  who  could  otherwise  have  no  perceptions 
of,  or  intercourse  with  him,  any  of  the  terms — hypostasis 
in  greek,  persona  in  latin,  person  in  english,  would  be 
very  readily  and  very  properly  applied  to  him.-  Even  if 
there  was  no  actual  assumption  of  form,  and  the  whole  sub- 
ject was  a  mere  personification  or  figure,  as  some  do  actual- 
ly suppose  and  argue,  yet  the  details  must  be  consistent 
with  the  laws  of  a  person  ;  i.  e.  with  the  laws  of  form,  the 
laws  of  spirit,  and  the  laws  of  soul.  If  the  laws  of  spirit 
as  a  pure  abstraction  were  known  and  understood,  they 
could  not  be  applied  in  such  a  case,  without  violating  the 
figure,  and  destroying  the  credibility  of  the  system  which 
should  be  defaced  by  so  gross  an  inconsistency.  The  point 
of  argument  therefore,  as  has  been  already  remarked,  really 
ought  to  be,  not  whether  there  is  any  resemblance  between 
the  divine  and  human  actions  personally  considered,  but 
whether  the  history  of  the  divine  movements  be  a  mere  per- 
sonification, adopted  with  a  view  to  an  apparent  similitude  ? 
Or  whether  Jehovah  did  actually  assume  personal  form  ?  If 
that  be  the  simple  question,  I  presume  it  may  be  consid- 
ered to  have  been  fairly  settled  by  the  preceding  discus- 
sion. 

JYemesius,  a  christian  philosopher  of  the  fourth  century, 
who  is  supposed  to  have  been  bishop  of  Emesa  in  Phoeni- 
cia, had  abundant  opportunities  of  measuring  the  contro- 
versy on  the  subject  of  trinity  in  its  incipient  amalgamation 
with  philosophic  systems.  He  is  said  to  have  written  a 
treatise  on  the  nature  of  man,  which  is  considered  to  have 
been  more  than  ordinarily  interesting,  and  chiefly  on  ac- 


14-2  LECTURES  ON 

count  of  its  accurate  physiology.  We  may  safely,  I  sup- 
pose, introduce  him  here  as  a  verbal  critic,  if  nothing  more, 
and  allow  him  to  have  understood  the  force  of  the  greek 
term  hypostasis.  He  calls  man  a  trimeros  hypostasis — i.  e. 
a  person  or  hypostasis  of  three  different  parts ;  but  he  would 
not  describe  him  as  three  hypostases  or  three  persons.  If 
such  be  the  force  of  the  greek  word,  as  employed  by  one 
who  well  understood  its  signification,  and  who  lived  in  the 
age  when  the  subjects  to  which  it  belonged  were  so  vari- 
ously discussed  ;  and  if  he  has  thus  used  it  in  a  dissertation 
concerning  man  who  was  made  in  the  image  of  God,  then 
surely  that  term,  when  applied  to  Jehovah,  must  refer  to 
one  hypostasis  or  person ;  and  of  that  one  person  or  hy- 
postasis, the  Son  of  God  is  the  image,  as  Paul  declares. 
Theologians  therefore  violate  all  the  rules  of  philology  as 
well  as  all  the  principles  of  philosophy,  when  they  talk  of 
three  persons  in  the  Godhead.  They  have  no  scriptural 
argument  to  advance  in  favor  of  such  an  hypothesis  ;  nor  is 
it  any  matter  of  wonder  that  their  various  creeds  and  ec- 
clesiastical measures  should  have  perplexed  the  whole 
christian  world,  and  prepared  the  way  for  all  the  absurdi- 
ties which,  to  this  hour,  papal  infallibility  covers  over  as 
wise  and  sacred.  Conscience  was  stupified  by  the  despo- 
tism of  an  irresistible  hierarchy,  and  "ignorance  became 
the  mother  of  devotion." 

Upon  the  whole — If  we  have  rightly  apprehended  this 
interesting  matter,  it  will  follow,  that  when  "  in  the  begin- 
ning" Jehovah  assumed  the  form,  which  has  been  deno- 
minated "the  form  of  God,"  and  so  assumed  it  that  he 
speaks  not  only  of  his  Spirit,  but  of  his  Soul,  he  presented 
to  his  creatures  a  distinct  divine  subsistence- — a  divine  hy- 
postasis— a  divine  Person.  This  view  cannot  be  given  of 
Jehovah  as  a  mere  Spirit.  It  cannot  be  true  of  him 
in  any  sense  but  as  being  "  in  the  form  of  God" — not  in  any 
form,  but  that  of  which  Soul  can  be  properly  and  con- 
sistently predicated,  which  is  "the  form  of  God"  of  which 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  143 

Paul  speaks,  or  of  Jehovah-ELOHiM,  spoken  of  in  view  of 
creation  ;  or  of  "  the  name  of  Jehovah"  of  which  mention 
was  made  when  Moses  was  inaugurated  as  the  Jewish  apos- 
tle; or  of  "the  face  of  the  Father"  which  the  angels  in 
heaven  behold ;  or  of  "  the  Majesty  on  high"  to  whose  right 
hand  the  Son  has  been  exalted.  When  our  spirits  shall  be 
separated  from  our  bodies,  we  cannot  speak  of  our  hypos- 
tases in  describing  our  disembodied  state — for  the  human 
hypostasis  is  trimeros,  or  of  three  different  parts.  Our  iden- 
tity will  not  be  destroyed,  but  our  appropriate  bodies  will  be 
in  the  dust  awaiting  the  resurrection.  Though  then  Jeho- 
vah assumes  "the  form  of  God,"  and  a  distinct  personal 
subsistence  denominated  Jehovah-Elohim  or  the  Word,  or 
the  Lord,  is  presented  to  us,  yet  still  it  is  Jehovah  himself 
who  is  that  Word,  or  Lord,  or  Elohim.  There  are  not  two 
Gods,  a  greater  and  a  lesser,  nor  are  there  three  persons  ; 
but  it  is  precisely  as  the  apostle  John  declares,  and  it  can 
be  no  other  way — u  In  the  beginning  the  Word  was,  and 
the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God:"  and 
this  Word  was  afterwards  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  amon^ 
us.  Or,  while  an  hypostasis  or  divine  Person  did  thus 
subsist  distinctly  in  the  beginning,  the  Spirit  of  that  Per- 
son or  Word,  which  was  God  himself,  did,  in  the  fulness 
of  time,  on  analogous  principles,  and  for  analogous  pur- 
poses, assume  the  form  of  man.  The  identity  of  the  Word 
in  the  two  manifestations  is  thus  evinced ;  though  fully  to 
ascertain  the  relations  subsisting  between  the  two,  a  second 
view  of  man  as  made  in  the  image  of  God  must  first  be 
stated,  and  then  carried  forward  to  the  subsequent  discus- 
sion of  the  mediatorial'  Personage. 

Our  argument  thus  far  has  been  conducted  on  the  prin~ 
ciple  that  man  was  made  personally  in  the  image  of  God. 
A  second  train  of  illustrations  may  now  be  derived  from 
another  but  a  similar  view  of  the  divine  image,  which  the 
scriptures  very  frequently  delineate  ;  and  which  embraces 
both  men  and  angels.    This  second  view  is  purely  official, 


144  LECTURES  ON 

and  belongs  to  the  constitution  of  social  life,  under  which 
mankind  have  necessarily  been  placed.  In  the  morning 
when  Adam  was  created,  his  maker  remarked — "It  is  not 
good  that  man  should  be  alone." 

When  a  companionship  or  social  relation  is  formed,  a 
new  branch  of  divine  legislation  becomes  necessary;  but  any 
statute  which  should  be  introduced  in  this  connexion,  must  be 
based,  like  all  other  statutes,  on  the  characteristic  principle  of 
our  nature — i.  e.  as  we  acquire  our  ideas  by  means  of  our 
senses,  or  as  we  derive  our  knowledge  through  the  medium  of 
external  images  or  representations,  this  new  ordinance  must, 
in  its  own  place,  enact  an  appropriate  series  of  symbols. 
One  human  being  will  thus  become  a  pattern  or  model  for 
imitation  to  another.  Accordingly  the  apostle  Paul  de- 
clares civil  government  to  be  an  ordinance  of  God,  and  the 
civil  magistrate  to  be  his  minister  for  good.  And  Moses 
tells  us  that  Jehovah  informed  Eve  that  "  her  desire  should 
be  to  her  husband,  and  that  he  should  rule  over  her;"  and 
afterwards  informed  Cain  that  Abel's  "  desire  should  be  to 
him,  and  that  he  should  rule  over  his  brother."  In  neither 
case,  however,  was  this  authority  original ;  it  was  only  min- 
isterial. So  that,  Paul  argues  consistently  when,  carrying 
the  principle  down,  he  views  all  who  bear  rule  as  being 
"ministers  of  God;"  and  as  deriving  their  authority  from 
a  divine  ordinance. 

Here  arises  the  general  doctrine  of  representation,  as  also 
the  use  of  the  official  scriptural  term  Elohim.  Civil  go- 
vernment is  founded  in  the  nature  of  society.  The  agent 
who  occupies  the  official  place  is  the  representative  of  Je- 
hovah, or  is  the  image  of  God.  Hence  Moses  was  Elo- 
him (God  or  for  God)  to  Pharaoh. — You  will  readily  under- 
stand and  estimate  the  principle  of  this  doctrine,  if  you 
will  simply  recollect  the  common  custom  of  princes  stamp- 
ing their  image,  or  that  which  is  supposed  to  be  their  like- 
ness, on  the  current  coin  of  their  country.  "Whose  image 
and  superscription  is  this  ?"  said  Jesus  totheJews.     They 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  145 

answered — "  Csesar's."  He  replied  to  them — "  Render 
unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,"  or  give  to  the  go- 
vernment of  Caesar  whatever  is  due  to  it,  and  respectfully 
recognise  the  symbols  of  its  authority ;  and  when  God's 
image  is  presented  before  you  with  its  own  appropriate  su- 
perscription— (( This  is  my  beloved  Son  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased,  hear  him" — return  to  the  divine  government  what- 
ever is  due  to  it. 

The  economic  arrangements  of  the  mediatorial  institute 
are  stated  in  the  scriptures  with  great  precision,  and  in  most 
accurate  coincidence  with  the  principle  just  advanced.  "I 
would  have  you  know,"  said  Paul  to  the  Corinthians,*  "  that 
the  head  of  every  man  is  Christ;  and  the  head  of  the  wo- 
man is  the  man;  and  the  head  of  Christ  is  God."     The 
correlatives  which  he  employs,  are  image  and  glory.     So 
God  is  the  head  of  Christ — Christ  is  the  image  and  glory  of 
God — "  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the  exact  image  of 
his  person."  Christ  is  the  head  of  every  man — "  the  man  is 
the  image  and  glory  of  God" — "if  our  brethren  be  inquired 
of,  they  are  the  messengers  of  the  churches  and  the  glory  of 
Christ."     The  man  is  the  Head  of  the  woman — the  wto- 
man  is  the  glory  of  the  man.     These  are  the  political  rela- 
tions of  Jehovah's  rectoral  system.     There  is  no  mistake — 
there  is  nothing  obscure — there  is  nothing  out  of  place,  in 
the  statement  thus  made  by  the  apostle.     Starting  with  the 
very  elements  of  social  life,  as  they  are  first  thrown  into 
form  by  the  matrimonial  institution,  or  commencing  where 
the  divine  ordinances  and  the  scriptural  records  begin,  his 
doctrine  covers  the  whole  ground  occupied  by  our  official 
relations.     Even  in  the  midst  of  those  extraordinary  occur- 
rences which  took  place  in  his  own  day,  he  was  very  care- 
ful to  correct  the  abuses  that  had  followed;  and  to  restore 
order  by  asserting  the  supremacy  of  original  principles.    A 
woman  was  for  this  reason  pointedly  prohibited  from  ' '  teach- 
ing."    She  might  "prophesy  or  pray;"  but  even  in  that 
*  1  Cor.  xL  3. 
Vol,  I.— 13 


146  LECTURES  ON 

case,  she  might  not  forget  her  subordinate  position,  nor  pro- 
phesy nor  pray  with  "her  head  uncovered."  Miraculous 
gifts  did  not  set  aside  ordinary  laws.  Revelation,  using  that 
term  as  it  is  commonly  received,  is  not  opposed  to  nature. 
These  gifts  might  serve  a  valuable  purpose ;  but  that  pur- 
pose answered,  they  were  withdrawn.  They  were  intended 
to  subserve,  not  to  contradict,  nature.  "  Man  is  the  image 
and  glory  of  God" — his  official  agent,  minister,  or  angel; 
and  though  a  woman  might  have  extraordinary  gifts  confer- 
red on  her,  as  Joel  had  foretold,  yet  the  official  place  and 
superiority  of  the  angels,  or  of  man  as  the  image  and  glory 
of  God,  must  be  recognised  ;  and  therefore,  a  woman  must 
have  power  on  her  head,  or  a  veil  in  token  of  her  subjec- 
tion. 

As  man  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God,  or  Jehovah's  of- 
ficial agent,  acting  in  his  place,  by  his  authority,  and  as  his 
representative,    the   title    Elohim,  whose    use    we    must 
now  proceed  to  show,  goes  along  with  the  office.     This  cir- 
cumstance has  of  itself  created  a  good  deal  of  perplexity 
in  theological  science,  and  particularly  in  view  of  the  di- 
vinity of  Christ.  But  the  inspired  writers  always  use  terms 
safely  and  consistently.     In  the  present  case  their  phrase- 
ology is  very  strong,  and  to  fastidious  sectarians  exceeding- 
ly startling.     Look  at  the  following  instances  : — Moses  was 
the  great  Jewish  apostle — Aaron  was  a  prophet.     In  view 
of  their  relations  to  each  other,  Jehovah  remarks  to  Moses — 
•'  He  (Aaron)  shall  be  thy  spokesman  unto  the  people  ;  and 
he  shall  be,  even  he  shall  be  to  thee  instead  of  a  mouth  ; 
and  thou  shalt  be  to  him  instead  of  God  (Elohim ).#  Again. 
"  See  I  have  made  thee  Elohim  to  Pharaoh,  and  Aaron  thy 
brother  shall  be  thy  prophet."\     The  official  term  Elohim, 
which  is  employed  as  a  fixed  and  technical  epithet  in  view 
of  the  divine  administration  as  sustained  by  God  himself,  is 
thus  appropriated  to  Moses  in  his  official  character.     He 
stood,  both  to  Aaron  and  Pharaoh  as  Elohim,  the  image  or 
*Exod.  iv.  16.  fEx.  vii.  1. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  147 

glory,  or  representative  of  God  himself.  And  that  too,  it 
may  farther  be  observed,  in  an  age,  and  in  a  series  of  offi- 
cial communications,  in  which  a  mighty  effort  was  made  to 
eradicate  idolatry.  If  the  term  Elohim  implies  that  there 
are  three  persons  in  the  godhead,  which  explanation  so 
many  have  pointedly  accused  as  asserting  that  there 
are  three  gods,  must  it  not  have  been  an  Unhappy  title  to 
employ  ?  Or  rather,  is  not  this  secondary  use  of  it,  in  ap- 
plying it  to  official  men,  an  irresistible  demonstration  that 
the  title  can  imply  no  such  forbidding  dogma.  "For,  is 
there  any  sense  in  which  "  three  persons"  can  be  predi- 
cated of  Moses,  or  any  other  official  man. 

This  official  principle  is  never  presented  more  frequently, 
nor  in  a  greater  variety  of  form,  nor  sustained  by  more  dis- 
tinct and  magnificent  attributes,  than  in  view  of  the  person 
and  action  of  the  Mediator.  How  could  it  be  otherwise, 
seeing  that  he  is  declared  to  be  "  the  exact  image  of  the 
divine  Person;"  and  is  described  as  having  "the  fulness 
of  the  godhead  dwelling  in  him  bodily?"  Indeed  no  one 
has  spoken  more  unhesitatingly  nor  unreservedly  than  him- 
self, in  reference  to  his  own  official  relations.  These  fre- 
quently called  forth  the  inquiry — who  and  what  he  was  ? 
whence  and  why  he  came  ?  what  was  the  measure  of  his  au- 
thority, and  how  it  could  be  that  he  manifested  both  so  much 
wisdom  and  power  ?  On  a  certain  occasion  the  Jews  ac- 
cused him  of  making  himself  God,  notwithstanding  the 
palpable  fact  that  he  was  a  man.  In  reply  to  their  charge, 
or  in  justification  of  his  own  pretensions,  he  says — "  Is  it 
not  written  in  the  scriptures,  I  said  ye  are  gods  ?  If  he 
called  them  gods,  to  whom  the  word  of  God  came,  and  the 
scriptures  cannot  be  broken,  say  ye  of  him  whom  the  Fa- 
ther hath  sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world,  thou  blas- 
phemest,  because  I  said  I  am  the  Son  of  God?"*  Here 
is  his  own  answer  on  the  question  of  his  divinity.  Does 
he  affirm,  or  deny  his  divinity  ?  Or  is  his  answer  altogether 
*  John  x.  34—36. 


148  LECTURES  ON 

equivocal^ — one  in  which  timorously  he  neither  affirms  noi; 
denies  any  thing  ?  Does  he  merely  create  a  mist,  through 
which  he  artfully  escapes  from  threatening  danger  ?  And 
would  he  do  this,  after  having  so  highly  commended  the 
scriptures  for  their  uncompromising  integrity  ? 

In  this  reply  he  offers  a  quotation  to  his  captious  accu- 
sers. Of  course,  if  there  be  any  ambiguity  about  it,  the 
best  method  to  remove  the  ambiguity  and  ascertain  the 
precise  meaning,  is  to  refer  to  the  original  text  and  context. 
You  will  find  the  entire  passage  in  the  book  of  Psalms.* 
The  whole  verse  reads  thus — "I  have  said  ye  are  gods  and 
all  of  you  are  sons  of  the  Most  High."     On  it  I  remark, 

1.  That  the  hebrew  word,  here  rendered  gods,  is  elohim 
— "  I  said  ye  are  elohim." 

2.  The  official  terms,  elohim,  and  sons  of  the  most  High 
are  here  used  in  a  poetical  couplet  as  equivalent  to  each 
other,  and  as  designed  to  express  the  same  idea. 

The  latter  of  these  terms  is  often  employed  as  an  official 
title.  Adam  was  "the  son  of  God."  The  official  men  in 
the  line  of  Sethwere  called  "sons  of  God."  The  angels, 
who  are  called  elohim,  are  also  denominated  "sons  of  God." 
These  things  being  so,  let  us  apply  them  in  illustration : 
and  suppose  that  the  Redeemer  had  said — "  He  called 
them  elohim,  to  whom  the  word  of  God  came  ;  and  do  ye 
charge  him,  whom  the  Father  hath  sanctified  and  sent  into 
the  world,  with  blasphemy,  because  I  said  I  am  elohim?" 
There  is  no  ambiguity  in  his  argument  when  thus  arrang- 
ed. Or  again,  as  the  Jews  were  as  much  displeased  with 
him,  "because  he  said  God  was  his  Father,"  and  charged 
him  with  making  himself  equal  with  God,  in  using 
such  language,  suppose  he  had  said — "He  called  them  to 
whom  the  word  of  God  came  the  sons  of  the  Most  High  • 
and  do  ye  charge  him,  whom  the  Father  hath  sanctified 
and  sent  into  the  world,  with  blasphemy,  because  I  said  I 
am  the  son  of  the  Most  High  ?"     By  this  second  arrange- 

*  Psalm  lxxxii.  6. 


Moral  government.  149 

mem  all  ambiguity  again  disappears.  And  has  he  done 
any  more  than  make  use  of  one  term  for  another., 
both  of  which  terms,  in  their  official  acceptation,  bear  pre- 
cisely the  same  import?  Then  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  Elo- 
him.  The  whole  argument  of  the  evangelists,  which  is 
professedly  intended  to  prove  that  he  was  "  the  Son  of  God,' 
is,  in  other  words,  professedly  intended  to  prove  that  he 
was  Elohim,  And,  as  introductory  to  all  the  glory  of  the 
new  creation,  these  evangelists  may  be  considered  as  de- 
claring that  Elohim  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  as  Moses 
declares  Elohim  to  be  the  Creator  of  the  world.  Paul  as 
positively  affirms  him  to  be  the  Lord  from  heaven,  as  he 
does  affirm  him  to  be  the  Son  of  God. 

3.  The  Redeemer  explains  in  this  passage  the  principle 
on  which  these  official  titles  are  employed.  Those  indivi- 
duals who  were  called  Elohim,  or  sons  of  the  Most  High,, 
were  the  ministerial  organs  to  and  by  "  whom  the  word  of 
God  came."  And  is  not  this  the  scriptural  view  afforded 
both  of  the  Creator  and  the  Redeemer  ?  Jehovah-Elohim,. 
or  the  Word,  made  the  world.  The  Word  became  flesh. 
"  God,  who  spake  unto  our  fathers  by  the  prophets,  hath  in 
these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son."  When  there- 
fore Jehovah  assumed  form  at  first,  or  subsisted  as  Jehovah- 
Elohim,  "the  form  of  God"  thus  assumed,  and  afterwards 
emptied,  was  not  the  essence  of  God ;  for  it  could  not,  in 
that  case,  have  been  laid  aside.  But  it  was  the  ministerial 
organ,  the  mouth,  by  which  Jehovah  communicated  his 
will,  and  which  seemingly,  for  this  very  reason,  has  been 
denominated  the  "Word."  It  was  this  "Word"  which 
afterwards  became  flesh :  or  the  Spirit  of  that  divine  Per- 
son assumed  the  form  of  man  as  his  ministerial  organ,  or 
mouth,  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  his  will. 

The  same  official  principle  runs  down  through  the  whole 

history   of  society,    and   embraces  every  case  by  which 

God  communicated  his  will.     They  were  all  called  Elohim 

"  to  whom  the  word  of  God  came  ;"  and  in  the  same  way 

13* 


150  LECTURES  ON 

in  which  the  english  term  God  has  been  applied  to  them 
all.  But  while  the  principle  of  official  life  is  the  same, 
yet  "the  Word"  was  the  original  Elohim  or  the  Creator 
himself,  who  afterwards  became  flesh,  and  is  revealed  as 
fCthe  Lord  from  heaven."  The  similitude  is  very  striking  ; 
but  yet  the  Lord  is  no  more  confounded  with  his  servants, 
than  the  High  Priest  of  our  profession  is  confounded  with 
Melchisedec,  who  was  made  like  unto  him :  or  than  the  Son 
of  the  virgin,  by  being  found  "in  the  likeness  of  sinful 
flesh,"  is  confounded  with  sinful  flesh. 

The  similitude  is  carried  still  farther  by  the   scriptural 
writers.     They  explain  how  the  word  of  God  came  to  these 
Elohim,  and  thus  introduce  and  exemplify  the  doctrine  of 
Spirit   to  which  we  have  been  attending.     On  the  one 
hand  these  holy  men,  they  say  spake,  as  they  were  mov- 
ed by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  they  report  the  Master  as  telling 
his  disciples,  that  they  should  be  similarly  employed,  and  that 
after  he  should  ascend  on  high  he  would  send  upon  them 
the  promise  of  the  Father.     "  When,"  said  he,  "they  shall 
lead  you,  and  deliver  you  up,  take  no  thought  beforehand 
what  ye  shall  speak,  neither  do  ye  premeditate,  but  what- 
soever shall  be  given  you  in  that  hour,  that  speak  ye  ;  for 
it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Holy  Spirit."     The  agency 
of  the  Spirit  was  the  same  in  principle  under  both  testa- 
ments ;  David  was  in  the   Spirit  when  he   spake  of  the 
coming  Messiah  as  his  Lord ;  and  John  was  in  the  SpiHt 
on  the  Lord's  day,  when  he  unveiled  the  future  history  of 
the  church. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Redeemer  applies  to  himself  the 
prophecy — "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  for  he 
hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  to  the  meek." 
And  the  evangelists  have  fully  detailed  the  divine  transac- 
tion, in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  is  represented  to  have  de- 
scended upon  him  in  bodily  shape.  He  himself  also  de- 
clares that  he  performed  all  his  works  by  the  Spirit  of  God; 
of   himself,    he  expressly  avers    he  could    do    nothing. 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  151 

The  glory  which  was  spread  over  him  consisted  in  this — 
The  Father  dwelt  in  him — the  divine  Spirit  acted  by  him. 

The  similitude  is  apparent  in  another  particular.  When 
these  official  men,  "  to  whom  the  word  of  God  came/' 
had  communicated  their  message,  or  when  the  ministerial 
organs  thus  temporarily  employed  had  answered  their 
purpose,  they  were  retired  from  farther  responsibilities.  All 
results  were  left  to  God,  to  his  agency  in  his  holy  provi- 
dence, or  to  those  superintending  operations  which  the 
scriptures  every  where  refer  to  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  i.  e. 
as  has  been  most  distinctly  and  unreservedly  affirmed — 
God  himself,  invisibly  and  not  in  personal  form,  yet  really, 
watches  over  his  own  institutions.  In  like  manner,  "the 
Lord  from  heaven"  is  removed  out  of  our  sight,  or,  having 
finished  his  work,  he  has  entered  his  rest,  as  God  did  when 
he  finished  the  heavens  and  the  earth  ;#  so  that  ' '  after  the  flesh 
we  know  him  no  more."  And  now,  when  he  has  thus 
been  removed,  or  has  entered  his  rest,  the  Spirit  has  come 
to  convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness  and  of  judg- 
ment ;  and  the  gospel  which  is  so  freely  and  graciously 
proclaimed  to  all,  is  emphatically  declared  to  be  the  wis- 
dom of  God,  and  the  power  of  God,  and  the  ministration 
of  the  Spirit. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  objected  to  these  explanations,  that 
still  they  somehow  reduce  the  Master  to  a  level  with  his 
servants.  For  such  a  conclusion  I  am  altogether  irrespon- 
sible— because,  in  the  first  place,  the  argument  is  entirely 
composed  of  scriptual  facts;  and,  in  the  second  place,  I  do 
not  think  that  any  such  conclusion  will  follow.  No  moral 
reasoner  is  responsible  for  every  nonsequitur  which  a  pre- 
judiced opponent  may  choose  to  force  upon  him. 

But  to  explain — the  scriptural  doctrine  is,  that  man  is 
made  in  the  image  and  after  the  likeness  of  God.     Does  it 

*  It  is  in  this  connexion  that  the  Lord's  day  was  established,  and 
of  which  David  spoke,  when  he  prophesied  of  another  day.  See 
Heb.  iv 


152  LECTURES  ON 

follow  that  man  is  verily  God  ?  Assurredly  not.  Under 
the  new  economy  we  are  all  "  predestinated  to  be  conform' 
ed  to  the  image"  of  the  Son  of  God.  Are  we  therefore 
equal  to  the  Son  of  God  ?  Assuredly  not.  In  drawing  out 
our  details  it  has  been  stated,  that  God,  who  is  a  Spirit,  as- 
sumed form ;  and  man  is  a  spirit  residing  in  an  external 
form  or  body — is  man  therefore  God  ?  Assuredly  not.  In 
tracing  out  the  official  principle,  these  elohim  as  they  are 
denominated,  are  not  only  like  the  Mediator,  but  they  are 
like  Jehovah-Elohim — the  great  Creator.  Have  we  then 
reduced  the  Creator  to  a  level  with  his  servants  ?  Assuredly 
not.  But  if  the  conclusion,  thus  forced  upon  us,  shall  fol- 
low at  all,  it  will  make  the  Creator  a  mere  creature,  as  well 
as  the  Mediator.  The  principle  of  argument  involves  the 
whole ;  and  the  conclusion  which  legitimately  applies  to 
one,  as  legitimately  applies  to  all.  If  indeed  the  likeness 
can  be  traced  in  every  particular,  and  no  difference  can  at 
all  be  discerned,  then  all  are  gods.  We  have  not  re- 
duced the  Creator,  but  have  elevated  the  creature.  Nay 
there  is  no  creature  at  all,  if  we  carry  the  likeness  out ;  for 
we  would  thereby  merge  the  existence  of  every  being  now 
supposed  to  exist  in  God  himself.  No  candid  logician 
would  thus  treat  our  argument. 

Try  the  question  in  another  way.  Moses,  the  great  Jew- 
ish apostle,  had  the  Spirit  of  God ;  so  had  Aaron  the  Jew- 
ish high  priest.  Was  Moses  not  superior  to  Aaron  ?  The 
matter  was  once  in  debate,  and  Jehovah  himself  was  the 
umpire.  The  case  may  be  quoted,  for  its  particulars  are 
few.  Miriam  and  Aaron  undertook  to  condemn  Moses — 
"Hath  the  Lord,"  said  they,  "indeed  only  spoken  by 
Moses  ?  hath  he  not  also  spoken  by  us  ?  And  the  Lord 
heard  it.  And  the  Lord  spake  suddenly  unto  Moses,  and 
unto  Aaron,  and  unto  Miriam,  come  out  ye  three  unto  the 
tabernacle  of  the  congregation.  And  the  Lord  said,  "Hear 
now  my  words :  If  there  be  a  prophet  among  you,  I  the 
Lord  will  make  myself  known  unto  him  in  a  vision,  and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  153 

will  speak  unto  him  in  a  dream.  My  servant  Moses  is  not 
so,  who  is  faithful  in  all  mine  house.  With  him  will 
I  speak  mouth  to  mouth,  even  apparently,  and  not  in  dark 
speeches ;  and  the  similitude  of  the  Lord  shall  he  behold  : 
wherefore  then  were  ye  not  afraid  to  speak  against  my  ser- 
vant Moses  ?"  Judgment  was  executed,  the  controversy 
was  closed,  and  Aaron  confessed  his  folly,  and  acknow- 
ledged Moses  as  his  lord.* — The  angels  were  elohim, 
and  so  also  was  Moses ;  were  the  angels  on  a  level  with 
Moses? — The  Mediator  was  Elohim;  but  in  comparison 
Moses  was  a  "servant"  in  God's  house,  Christ  was  "a  Son 
over  his  own  house."  The  angels  were  ministering  spirits, 
the  Son  was  the  Lord  whom  all  the  angels  must  worship. 

Again.  Had  not  these  various  classes  of  servants,  one 
and  all,  but  a  short  period  of  official  action  ?  Rather,  were 
there  not  only  occasionally  recurring  periods  when  they 
were  under  the  official  influence  ?  At  all  other  times  are 
they  not  seen  to  be  acting  under  the  ordinary  laws  of  per- 
sonal responsibility  ?  Limited  in  view  of  the  sphere,  as 
well  as  the  time  of  their  official  employment,  even  the  an- 
gels were  active  under  the  law,  which  was  "the  wTord  spo- 
ken" by  them ;  but  they  had  not  "the  world  to  come  put  into 
subjection"  to  them.  The  prophets  sat  down  carefully  to 
study  events  which  should  occur  long  after  they  should  be 
gathered  to  their  fathers ;  and  which  they,  by  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  dwelling  in  them,  had  foretold.  But  what  will  you 
say  of  the  personal  responsibility  of  him  who  "was  made 
under  the  law"  for  official  purposes?  Will  you  apply  to 
him  personally,  who  had  "done  no  sin,  neither  was  guile 
found  in  his  mouth,"  the  cleansing  virtue  of  the  mediato- 
rial sacrifice  ?  Can  you  discern  no  superiority  in  the  only 
begotten  ?  no  magnificence  divine  in  the  Heir  of  all  things  ? 
no  glory  divine,  when  the  Word  himself,  who  was  in  the 
beginning  with  God,  and  who  was  God,  becomes  flesh  ? 
nothing  to  command  your  adoration,  when  the  Lord  from 

*Num.  xii. 


154  LECTURES  ON 

heaven,  laying  aside  "the  form  of  God,"  takes  the  form  of 
man  ?  no  claim  to  your  cheerful  and  unreserved  allegiance, 
when  his  kingdom  is  proclaimed  to  be  an  everlasting  king- 
dom, and  to  absorb  all  within  itself  until  the  end-  shall 
come,  and  God  shall  be  all  in  all  ?  Or  what  is  it,  which 
at  any  time,  or  in  any  part  of  this  discussion,  I  have  said 
inconsistent  with  these  glorious  truths,  which  could  deserve 
the  imputation  of  degrading  Immanuel  ? 

A  third  illustration  of  our  general  subject  is  afforded  by 
the  scriptural  fact  that  angels  are  denominated  Elohim. 
For  example*— In  the  book  of  psalms  Jehovah  is  represent- 
ed as  saying — "Let  all  the  elohim  worship  him  ;"#  or  in 
our  translation — "Worship  him  all  ye  gods."  Again — Da- 
vid says — "Thou  hast  made  him  for  a  little  while  lower 
than  the  elohim."!  In  both  these  instances  the  apostle 
Paul  translates  the  word  elohim,  angels  ;  and  it  is  to  be 
presumed  that  he  understood  both  the  language,  and  that 
which  was  intended  to  be  expressed. 

The  equivalent  official  title,  "  sons  of  God,"  is  also  appli- 
ed to  angels.  For  example. —  "There  was  a  day  when  the 
sons  of  God  came  to  present  themselves  before  the  Lord, 
and  Satan  came  also  among  them."t  "The  morning  stars 
sang  together  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy," 
when  the  foundations  of  the  earth  were  laid.§ 

On  what  principle  are  these  titles  applied  to  angels  ?  The 
inquiry  is  important  and  may  lead  to  a  very  interesting  il- 
lustration of  our  general  subject.  Paul,  when  writing  to 
the  hebrews,  and  undertaking  to  explain  the  principle  of 
the  Redeemer's  humiliation,  remarks  that — "Nowhere  did 
He,  the  Messiah,  lay  hold  of  angels,  but  he  laid  hold  of  the 

*  Ps.  xcvii.     |Ps.  viii.  5. 

J  Job  i.  6 — ii.  1  compared  with  1  Kings  xxii.  19 — 22. 

§Job  xxxviii.  4 — 7,  compare  the  whole  with  Is.  vi.  1 — 8.  Mat. 
xviii.  10.  Remember  also,  that  Satan,  in  his  conversation  with  Eve, 
seems  to  be  perfectly  familiar  with  the  use  of  the  term  elohim. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  155 

seed  of  Abraham."*  The  apostle  is  speaking  of  the  pre- 
sent relations  of  the  Messiah,  as  they  had  been  set  forth  by 
'the  Spirit  of  prophecy,"  when  affording  his  preliminary 
"  testimony."  The  design  is  to  prove  the  fact,  that  Christ 
should  be  made  for  a  little  while  lower  than  the  angels. 
And  the  amount  of  Paul's  declaration  is,  that  the  Spirit  of 
prophecy  never  did  point  out  the  Messiah,  when  he  should 
come  to  put  away  sin,  as  laying  hold  of  angels  ;  but  every 
where  predicted  that  he  should  come  in  the  form  of  a  man 
— that  he  should  be  "a  partaker  of  flesh  and  blood" — that 
he  should  be  our  brother — that  "he  who  sanctifieth,  and 
they  who  are  sanctified,"  should  be  "all  of  one."  The  re- 
mark is  singular,  and  was  made  because  the  Jews  consid- 
ered the  superiority  of  their  own  dispensation  to  be  demon- 
strated by  the  circumstance,  that  it  was  graced  by  the  min- 
istry of  angels.  The  apostle  admits  the  plea,  but  reminds 
them  that  they  had  no  right  thence  to  infer  that  the  Mes- 
siah should  not  be  humbled ;  for  their  own  prophets  had 
every  where  testified  beforehand  of  his  suffering  ;  and  ne- 
ver had  given  them  any  right  to  expect  that  he  should  as- 
sume any  other  form,  than  that  which  should  be  perfectly 
consistent  with  suffering. 

It  appears  however  to  me,  that  the  observation  implies 
something  more,  and  that  it  is  intended  to  meet  another 
Jewish  idea,  viz. — That  under  their  economy  the  Messiah 
had  laid  hold  of  angels.  For  certainly  it  is  not  asserted 
that,  irrespective  of  this  appearance  in  the  latter  days,  the 
Redeemer  did  not  lay  hold  of  angels.  Evidently  the  Lord 
might  have  done  this  before,  and  in  a  variety  of  ways,  with- 
out ever  coming  into  collision  with  the  Spirit  of  prophecy. 
He  would  thereby  no  more  interfere  with  his  coming  in  the 
flesh,  than  he  did  when  he  appeared  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac, 
or  to  Jacob  in  the  form  of  a  man.  And  if  he  has,  at  other 
times,  and  in  other  connexions,  employed  the  agency  of 
angels,  the  facts  in  the  case  would  remove  every  difficulty 

*Heb.  ii.  16. 


156  LECTURES  ON 

resulting  from  the  use  of  the  official  titles  under  consider* 
ation. — Has  he  done  so  ? 

The  facts  to  which  we  may  refer  on  this  subject  are  nu- 
merous and  splendid.     The  whole  Mosaic  law  was  deliver- 
ed by  the   instrumentality  of  angels.*     Nor  only  so.     But 
we  are  told  of   "  the  angel  of  the  Lord"  who  talked  to 
Abraham — who  appeared  to  Moses — and  who  went  up  be- 
fore the  hosts  of  Israel,  designated  as  that  one  in  whom  was 
the  name  of  God — as  the  angel  of  the  divine  presence — 
as  the  angel  of  the  covenant,  in  whom  the  saints  of  old  de- 
lighted, even  the  Lord  whom  they  sought.     Moses,  you 
may  well  remember,  was  distinctly  informed  by  the  Angel 
of  the  Lord,  who  appeared  to  him  "  in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of 
the  midst  of  a  bush,  that  it  was  God  who  addressed  him" — 
"I  am  the    God  of  thy  father,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the 
God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob."     And  indeed  many 
ancient  writers  seem  to  have  had  this  same  idea.     For  ex- 
ample— Athanasius  says,  "  he  who  appeared  was  an  angel, 
but  God    spake  in   him.     Clemens  Alexandrinus  says — 
The  Son  of  God  who  led  Moses  was  an  Angel,  bringing 
with   him  the  evangelical  and  principal  power  of  the 
Word  :  a  little  after  he  adds — The  Logos  or  Word  was  an 
Angel,  and  he  calls  the  Son  of  God  the  mystical  angel. 
Austin  says — '  I  ask  who  appeared  to  Moses  in  the  fire  ? 
The  scripture  itself  declares  it  was  an  angel  that  appear- 
ed, but   that  God  was  in  that  angel  who  can  doubt?' 
Gregory,  in  his  preface  to  Job,  says — "  The  angel  who  ap- 
peared to  Moses  is  sometimes  called  an  angel,  and  some- 
times God  ;  when  he  that  speaks  outwardly  is  governed  by 
him  that  is  within,  he  is  called  an  angel  to  signify  his  obe- 
dience, and  the   Lord  to  denote  inspiration."!     All  these 
facts  have  the  same  bearing,  and  hold  up  to  our  view  the 
same  divine  phenomenon.     The  terms  or  titles  therefore, 

*  Ps.  lxviii.  17.     Acts  vii.  53.     Gal.  iii.  19.     Heb.  ii.  2. 
f  Watts'  Glory  of  Christ.  Dis.  i.  Sec.  1. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  157 

"which  we  are  considering,  are  applied  to  angels  with  strict 
accuracy  and  beautiful  propriety. 

The  Redeemer,  you  recollect,  has  explained  the  import 
of  the  word  Elohim,  when  he  said  that  they  were  so  deno- 
minated to  whom  the  word  of  God  came.  On  this  official 
service  the  angels,  according  to  the  preceding  statement, 
were  sent ;  for  the  whole  Mosaic  law  was  "  the  word  spoken 
by  angels" — was  "  ordained  by  angels  in  the  hand  of  a  me- 
diator"— "and  was  received  by  the  disposition  of  an- 
gels." On  the  trinitarian  scheme,  as  it  comes  graced  by 
the  hallucinations  of  the  grecian  philosophy,  and  offers  to 
the  human  mind  the  wild  and  sabellian  idea  of  three  per- 
sons or  three  parts  in  the  godhead,  or  on  the  common  idea 
of  a  secondary  use  of.  the  term  God  or  Elohim,  there  is  no 
visible  propriety  in  the  facts  adduced.  On  the  principle 
set  forth  in  these  lectures,  the  whole  subject  is  plain  and 
consistent.  So  that  in  explaining  the  official  term  by 
tracing  its  applications,  the  official  character  of  God  himself 
is  most  visibly  displayed. 

It  may,  however,  be  necessary  hereto  observe,  that  some 
may  be  inclined  to  interpret  the  term  Angel,  as  used  by 
Paul  in  the  epistle  to  which  we  have  referred,  in  its  gene- 
ral acceptation  of  messenger.  But  what  fearful  contradic- 
tion would  be  thus  introduced  ?  For  if  by  angels  official 
men  are  there  to  be  understood,  it  would  follow  that  the  Re- 
deemer had  not  laid  hold  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  while  it 
is  expressly  declared  that  he  did.  Please  to  look  at  the 
text.  The  angels  delivered  the  law ;  but  the  official  men 
who  were  then  employed,  were  the  seed  of  Abraham.  The 
angels  were  Elohim  under  the  former  dispensation,  but  so 
were  the  seed  of  Abraham.  The  Son  was  made  a  little 
lower  than  the  angels,  but  he  made  common  cause  with  the 
seed  of  Abraham,  and  was  not  ashamed  to  call  them 
brethren.  On  the  principle  of  interpretation,  thus  arbi- 
trarily introduced,  the  contrast  is  destroyed,  and  the  apos- 
tolic argument  is  nullified,  while  the  Jewish  objection  is 
Vol.  I.— 14 


158  LECTURES  ON 

entirely  disregarded.  Our  conclusion,  therefore,  stands  firm. 
The  Lord,  who  was  suddenly  to  come  into  his  temple  when 
he  should  lay  hold  of  "the  seed  of  Abraham,"  had  pre- 
viously "laid  hold  of  angels.'5  In  the  angel  of  the  cove- 
nant he  had  put  his  name,  and  in  this  way  became  the 
great  delight  of  the  saints  of  old.     Official  titles  were  thus 

bo 

conferred  on  angels,  because  they  were  engaged  in  a  min- 
istry in  view  of  the  grand  objects  which  were  involved  in 
"  the  mystery  of  the  divine  will;"  i.  e.  the  term  Elohim 
was  applied  to  them  in  perfect  consistency  with  its  own 
principle,  for  "by  them  the  word  of  God  came." 

But  why  should  any  difficulty  be  attributed  to  this  branch 
of  Jehovah's  providential  administration  ?  Has  he  not 
grouped  together,  in  a  system  of  official  symbols  and  vica- 
rious agencies,  all  other  creatures  belonging  to  his  empire, 
as  far  as  they  are  connected  with  our  existence  and  action  ? 
And  why  should  not  other  classes  of  intelligent  beings  be 
employed  for  like  purposes,  and  in  fulfilment  of  the  divine 
will?  provided  the  series  of  services  to  which  they  are  call- 
ed, shall  not  be  inconsistent  with  their  own  nature,  or  with 
ours.  May  not  the  Spirit  of  God  employ,  in  any  enter- 
prise which  he  may  determine  to  undertake,  the  agency  of 
angels  as  Avell  as  that  of  men  ?  May  there  be  no  connect- 
ing ties  in  the  intellectual  or  moral  world,  analogous  to 
those  which  exist  in  the  material  world  ?  Does  it  follow 
that  such  agencies  do  not,  and  cannot,  exist,  because  that 
in  our  present  mode  of  being  they  cannot  be  recognised 
by  out  senses?  or  that  in  our  progress  no  change  can  occur 
which  shall  introduce  us  to  the  most  perfect  familiarity 
with  them  ?  Is  k  certain  that  such  agents  may  not  be  co- 
vered with  appropriate  garments,  or  that  our  vision  cannot 
be  strengthened,  so  that  they  may  be  recognised?  Are  all 
the  probabilities  which  nature  affords,  and  all  the  experience 
of  mankind  as  it  may  be  gathered  from  the  records  of  the 
church  and  the  world,  directly  against  such  official  analo- 
gies ?     I  see  not  why  men,  even  those  who  are  most  fond  of 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  159 

philosophical  speculation,  should  be  so  exceedingly  fastid- 
ious on  the  subject  of  angelic  agency.  They  might  as  well 
deny  the  divine  agency,  or  throw  off  from  their  considera- 
tion every  view  of  secondary  means,  of  which  creation  ex- 
hibits a  series  most  splendid,  and  almost  interminable. 

A  fourth  illustration  of  the  official  principle  is  derived 
from  the  fact,  that  Jehovah-Elohim  or  the  Word  which 
was  in  the  beginning,  and  the  Word  manifested  afterwards 
in  the  flesh,  are  uniformly  denominated  Lord.  David  in 
Spirit,  as  quoted  by  the  Redeemer,  used  very  important 
phraseology  when  he  said — "The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord." 
Lord  signifies  ruler  or  governor.  As  David  was  the  first 
officer  of  the  Jewish  commonwealth,  no  one  could  be  his 
Lord  save  Jehovah.  This  simple  truth  every  one  would 
admit.  But  when  the  term  is  used  twice,  and  Israel's  king 
wrote,  the  Lord — Jehovah,  as  will  be  conceded — said  unto 
my  Lord,  to  whom  could  he  refer  ?  You  remember  that 
Jesus  called  on  the  pharisees  for  an  explanation  of  David's 
language.  In  like  manner  Paul  declares — "To  us  there  is 
one  God  and  one  Lord  :"  and  Peter  avers  that  Jesus  was 
constituted  both  Lord  and  Christ.  The  constitution  of  a 
lordship,  or  the  manifestation  of  one  who  shall  be  recog- 
nised as  Lord,  or  as  the  chief  magistrate  to  whom  every 
knee  shall  bow,  is  then  the  political  operation,  which  has 
given  rise  to  this  mysterious  thing  which  theologians  have 
called  Trinity.  Thus  again  we  are  thrown  upon  the  prin- 
ciples of  political  philosophy,  or  the  attributes  of  official 
life,  for  illustration. 

In  the  allusions  which  I  am  now  about  to  make,  let  it  be 
remembered  that  it  is  simply  similitude  which  is  presented. 
Man  is  the  image  of  God.  The  whole  argument  is  merely 
a  development  of  the^doctrine  of  images.  Farther,  let  it 
be  recollected  that  it  is  no  part  of  our  present  concern,  how 
far  the  maxims  of  political  philosophy  may  be  abstractedly 
correct  ?  The  science  is  every  where  under  review,  and 
the  investigator  finds  it  as  much  encumbered  by  traditions 


160  LECTURES  ON 

as  theology  itself  can  be.  Antiquity  and  the  wisdom  as- 
cribed to  the  fathers  form  as  huge  barriers  against  polit- 
ical as  against  moral  reform.  Leaving  politicians  to  strug- 
gle with  traditions  and  ordinances  and  dogmas  as  they  can,, 
and  to  conduct  their  reformation  in  their  own  line  as  they 
may,  while  for  ourselves  we  believe  that  Jesus  is  Heir  of 
all  things — the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth — and  that  his  Spi- 
rit, as  such,  shall  every  where  preside,  let  us  use  the  sci- 
ence as  we  find  it. 

The  example  which  is  offered  for  illustration,  we  shall 
take  from  our  own  institutions.  The  people  of  the  United 
States  have  elected  a  "chief  magistrate."  He  becomes  an 
official  Person,  hypostasis,  or  subsistence,  in  whom, 
as  such,  they  dwell.  He  is  not  in  his  official  character  to 
be  considered  as  his  individual  self,  but  as  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  as  far  as  his  official  character  extends. 
He  is  viewed  in  this  light  both  at  home  and  abroad.  He 
is  the  people,  and  yet  he  is  with  the  people.  No  false 
political  philosophy  will  be  charged  against  such  a  state- 
ment. Yet  this  officer  is '  not  elected  by  any  one  of  the 
people.4  A  strong  minority  respectable  in  view  of  wealth 
and  intelligence  might  have  preferred  another.  But,  as  a 
whole,  he  is  the  choice  of  the  people,  and  must  be  sustain- 
ed by  them  in  his  official  actions.  Perhaps  the  political  re- 
lation cannot  be  better  expressed  than  by  this  simple  pro- 
position— The  Spirit  of  the  community  dwells  in  their 
chief  magistrate,  or  has  manifested  itself  in  him,  by  the 
assumption  of  personal  form. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  apprehending  the  general  idea 
involved  in  the  foregoing  proposition.  You  all  speak  with 
perfect  familiarity  of  the  difference  between  the  spirit  and 
the  letter  of  any  instrument  of  writing — of  the  spirit  of  a 
will — of  a  book — of  this,  or  any  other  age.  The  scriptures 
thus  describe  the  two  dispensations — the  one  is  the  letter 
which  killeth,  and  the  other  the  spirit  which  giveth  life — 
the  one  was  a  letter  engraven  on  tables  of  stone,  and  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  161 

other  is  "  the  fellowship  of  the  spirit.  They  speak  of  the 
spirit  of  the  world.  No  idea  is  more  common.  In  its  po-> 
iitical  application  it  runs  through  the  whole  of  society,  as- 
cending from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  or  descending  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest  officer.  In  every  instance,  and 
under  every  form  of  government,  the  principle  is  the  same 
— spirit  is  clothed  with  form  for  certain  practical  purposes 
which  are  contemplated. 

Perhaps  you  may  ask — What  is  the  spirit  of  the  commu- 
nity ?  But  in  so  doing,  you  carry  me  out  into  the  region 
of  abstractions.  Spirit  is  brought  to  my  knowledge  by  be- 
ing embodied  in  the  political  officer.  That  officer  thus  in* 
augurated  brings  to  my  view  the  political  hypostasis  or  per- 
son. You  dismiss  the  officer,  and  then  ask  me  what  that 
thing  is  which  has  no  hypostasis  or  person  ?  The  object 
which  is  sought  lies  beyond  the  range  of  the  human  senses. 
and  of  course  beyond  our  power  of  perception.  You  have 
assigned  me  a  task  above  human  nature,  and  until  some 
new  or  different  method  of  acquiring  ideas  is  conferred  up- 
on us,  it  would  be  folly  to  attempt  explanation. 

In  like  manner,  if  you  ask  what  is  spirit  in  view  of  the 
divine  nature,  I  answer — No  one  can  tell.  The  subject  is 
beyond  our  range.  There  must  be  a  divine  hypostasis  or 
person  before  we  can  have  any  ideas  on  the  subject.  Je- 
hovah must  be  revealed  or  manifested.  This  done,  the 
form  which  he  has  assumed,  if  it  be  appropriate  to  our  fa- 
culties of  perception,  will  enable  us  to  perceive  and  under- 
stand something  about  him.  This  is  precisely  what  he  has 
done,  and  the  personal  manifestation  which  he  thus  made, 
appropriate  to  man's  powers  of  perception  as  they  originally 
were,  and  as  again  they  shall  be  when  the  redeemed  shall 
see  God  as  he  is,  is  denominated,  by  Moses  Jehovah-Elo- 
him — by  David  The  Lord — by  John  The  Word  and  God 
as  he  is — and  is  referred  to  as  the  hypostasis  or  person  of 
Jehovah  of  which  the  Son  is  the  image,  which  no  man  can 
now  see  and  live  ;  but  which  shall  be  seen  when  the  Son 
14* 


16-2  LECTURES  ON 

shall  surrender  the  kingdom  to  the  Father,  and  Jehovah- 
Elohim  shall  be  all,  and  in  all. 

This  manifestation,  whose  principle  we  have  been  con- 
templating in  such  various  forms,  having  been  mistaken  by 
theologians  in  their  pursuit  after  abstract  philosophy,  has 
given  rise  to  the  doctrine  of  Trinity;  which  so  many  rep- 
robate as  untrue,  which  no  one  pretends  to  explain,  and 
which  is  so  often  represented  as  a  sublime  mystery,  neces- 
sarily and  naturally  incomprehensible.  But  if  our  subject 
has  been  explained  up  to  that  point  where  spirit  becomes 
to  us  a  mere  abstraction,  if  the  false  constructions  in  theo- 
logy, which  prevented  you  from  coming  up  intelligibly  to 
that  point,  have  been  removed  out  of  your  way,  and  if  you 
may  thus  understand  what  a  hypostatical  or  personal  mani- 
festation is,  you  can  ask  no  more.  A  second  manifestation, 
in  which  an  image  of  the  first  is  presented,  may  indeed 
have  some  peculiarity.  But  the  principle  by  which  even 
that  peculiarity  may  be  explained,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter, 
is  fairly  secured,  and  this  is  all  we  could  desire.  A  Lord 
— the  chief  magistrate  of  the  universe — is  thus  constituted 
in  a  manner  we  can  understand,  and  from  the  very  begin- 
ning. And  as  "the  form  of  God"  then  assumed  was  not 
the  essence  of  God,  neither  did  it  affect  that  essence, 
though  a  distinct  individual  hypostasis  or  Person,  which 
did  not  subsist  without  that  form,  is  brought  before  us.  And 
as  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  United  States,  who  did  not  sub- 
sist until  the  spirit  of  the  community  selected  and  assum- 
ed its  own  form,  is  the  'people,  and  yet  with  the  people,  so 
John  represents  that — "In  the  beginning  the  Word  was; 
and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God." 

I  cannot  accuse  myself  of  offering  any  ideas  derogatory 
to  Jehovah,  or  prejudicial  to  the  views  we  should  entertain 
of  him,  in  tracing  out  such  a  simile.  He  has  employed  it 
himself.  The  official  titles  which  he  appropriates  corres- 
pond with  it.  He  is  Lord — King — Lord  of  Lords — King 
of  Kings — Father — Lawgiver— Judge;  and  his  church  is 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  163 

his  KINGDOM,  his  NATION,  his  PEOPLE,  a  COMMONWEALTH, 

a  city,  &c.  As  has  already  been  remarked,  I  am  not  re- 
sponsible for  the  accuracy  of  the  political  theory  which  has 
been  quoted,  nOr  concerned  with  the  question — whether  the 
spirit  of  the  community  be  an  entity  or  a  mere  figment  ? 
That  question,  I  apprehend,  is  likely  to  become  as  inter- 
esting as  trinity  itself;  and,  if  the  apostle  Paul  has  taken 
the  true  ground  when  he  asserts  that  the  ruler  is  a  minis- 
ter of  God,  it  is  likely  to  be  settled  on  corresponding  prin- 
ciples. The  man  of  sin  may  possibly  be  revealed  as  of 
more  gigantic  stature,  and  as  the  head  of  a  more  extensive 
empire,  than  is  generally  suspected.  The  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity, and  the  spirit  of  the  magisterial  office,  may  then 
be  discovered  to  be  the  Spirit  of  God,  bringing  liberty 
wherever  he  shall  rule.  This  last  view  will  make  the  il- 
lustration still  better  than  it  at  present  is,  and  entirely  scrip- 
tural. But  in  either  way  the  principle  is  the  same.  Spi- 
rit, assuming  form,  is  the  secret,  and  spring,  and  life  of  all 
visible  action,  human  or  divine.  And  in  the  multitude  of 
examples  which  are  to  be  found  in  society,  in  which  men 
are  said  to  personify,  or  to  clothe  a  mere  abstraction  with 
personal  attributes,-  the  result  is  the  same.  Idolatrv  itself 
originates  here  ;  and,  by  carrying  a  genuine  principle  of  in- 
tellectual philosophy  into  improper  associations,  it  has  illus- 
trated the  general  laws  of  humanity  by  a  host  of  fearful 
and  desolating  analogies ;  so  that  an  inspired  apostle,  when 
he  would  describe  "the  true  God  and  eternal  life,"  felt  it 
necessary  to  exhort  the  disciples, — "Little  children 
keep  yourselves  from  idols."  Civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical  despotism  arise  from  the  same  source.  The  one  is  a 
perversion  of  the  doctrine  of  Spirit  in  its  political  connex- 
ions ;  and  the  other  is  a  perversion  of  the  same  doctrine  in 
its  ecclesiastical  connexions.  Hence  in  both  relations,  phy- 
sical power  has  taken  the  place  of  moral  influence — intel- 
lectual operations,  divine  and  human,  have  all  been  meta- 
physically misrepresented,  and  practically  misapplied. 


164  LECTURES  ON 

Here  for  the  present  this  particular  illustration  must  be 
left.  The  mediatorial  manifestation  will  call  it  up  again, 
and  lead  us  to  look  at  it  in  minuter  details.  I  only  remark 
in  conclusion,  that  to  object  to  an  effort  to  explain  the  char- 
acter and  operations  of  Jehovah  to  the  whole  extent  of  the 
images  which  he  himself  has  selected,  to  reject  the  linea- 
ments of  the  one  when  we  would  ascertain  the  lineaments 
of  the  other,  and  then  to  perplex  and  distract  ourselves  by 
a  vain  effort  to  grasp  a  mere  abstraction,  is  the  greatest  of 
all  intellectual  mistakes.  How,  I  pray  you,  can  wise  men — 
above  all,  how  can  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ — call  such  an 
intellectual  process,  either  science  or  revelation  ?  The 
Stagyrite  might  know  no  better,  or  a  Platonic  sophist  might 
offer  such  subtleties  for  philosophic  refinement ;  but  the  in- 
spiration of  the  saint  ought  to  have  brought  him  nearer  the 
throne  of  God.  Even  the  politician  who,  falling  in  with 
**  the  march  of  mind,"  has  talked  so  much  and  so  long,  and 
so  loud  about  power,  and  sovereignty,  and  majesty,  and  li- 
berty, might  have  promulged  a  system  of  vastly  greater 
verisimilitude. 


LECTURE  VI. 


Of  Creation — Appropriate  manifestation  of  Jehovah — Plu- 
ral terms — Character  of  the  creature — Man — Image  of 
the  Elohim — His  body — -His  spirit — Original  reponsibili- 
ty — Its  relations— ^Spirit's  operations — Human  ability. 

Having  spoken  of  the  two  different  manifestations  which 
God  has  ma'de  of  Himself,  in  view  of  the  character  and 
powers  of  mankind  ;  the  first,  with  its  appropriate  associa- 
tions, now  comes  up  before  us.     Agreeably  to  the  classifi- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT  165 

cation  stated  in  the  last  lecture,  the  arrangement  of  our 
subjects,  as  they  must  be  considered  in  order,  is  as  fol- 
lows : — Jehovah,  Jehovah-Elohim,  or  Word,  and  Spirit — 
Creation — Man  as  he  was  originally  made — and  Man  under 
Law. 

Our  first  question,  of  course,  is — How  did  God  create 
the  world  ? 

If,  instead  of  this  question,  I  should  ask  you  how  does 
Cod  reconcile  the  world  unto  Himself,  you  would  readily 
reply  in  scriptural  language — "God  is  in  Christ,  recon- 
ciling the  world  unto  himself."  In  explanation  you  might 
go  on  and  say,  that  in  order  to  reconcile  man,  he  assumed 
a  human  form,  and  appeared  in  the  likeness  of  men ;  by 
which  means  he  became  qualified,  so  to  speak,  to  act  for 
our  benefit,  in  a  manner  consistent  with  the  laws  of  our 
being,  and  the  necessities  of  our  condition.  Or  again,  to 
use  biblical  language,  you  would  say — "Forasmuch  as 
the  children  were  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  he  also 
himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same,  that  through  death 
he  might  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death." 

In  like  manner  I  would  say,  that  in  the  beginning,  God 
in  the  Word,  or  as  Jehovah-ELOHiM,  created  the  heavens' 
and  earth  :  and  going  on  to  explain,  I  would  further  remark 
that  He,  having  purposed  to  call  into  being  this  system, 
and  to  place  an  intelligent  creature  in  a  presidency  over  it,, 
did  assume  an  appropriate  form  ;  and  that,  acting  in  this 
form,  the  whole  work  was  done  while  he  Himself,  stood. 
as  manifested,  Jehovah-ELOHiM,  or  Lord  of  the  whole. 

Certainly  the  scriptures  do  entertain — do  clearly  set 
forth — this  simple  view  of  the  whole  matter.  Moses  an- 
nounces to  us  that — "In  the  beginning"  Elohim  made 
the  heavens  and  the  earth:"  and  again,  that  Adam  and 
Eve  "heard  the  voice  of  Jehovah-Elohim^  walking  in  the 
garden."  John  tells  us  that  in  the  beginning  the  Word 
was,  or  subsisted  ;  all  things  were  made  by  him ;  and  with- 
out him  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made.     He  was 


166  LECTURES  ON 

in  the  world,  and  the  world  was  made  by  him,  and  the 
world  knew  him  not."  Paul,  quoting  from  the  book  of 
psalms,  testifies  to  the  same  fact — "  Thou  Lord,  in  the  be- 
ginning, hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth ;  and  the 
heavens  are  the  works  of  thine  hands."  The  original 
word  in  the  psalms,  which  the  apostle  renders  Lord,  is  the 
singular  of  Elohim;  and  is  the  same  used  by  Jehovah, 
when  he  informs  Moses  that  he  had  appeared  to  Abraham 
as  Almighty  God  ;  and  used  by  Jacob,  when  he  remarks — 
"  I  have  seen  God  face  to  face,"  and  denominates  the  spot 
where  the  sacred  interview  was  enjoyed,  Peni-EL.  Both 
these  appearances,  you  remember,  were  in  the  form  of 
man. — Lord  is  the  emphatic  or  distinguishing  title  of  Je- 
hovah as  manifested  in  a  personal  similitude. — The  apostle, 
speaking  for  himself,  would  say  concerning  his  Master — 
"  By  Him  were  all  things  created  that  are  in  heaven,  and 
that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible." 

God  then,  or  Jehovah  in  personal  form,  came  down  to  cre- 
ate the  heavens  and  the  earth,  as  he  came  down  to  give  the 
law  to  Moses  from  Mount  Sinai ;  or  as  he  appeared  to. 
Isaiah,  when  in  a  vision  he  saw  the  Lord  upon  a  throne,  high 
and  lifted  up.  He  came  down  in  human  form  to  reconcile 
man,  when  he  appeared  as  the  babe  of  Bethlehem,  and  an- 
gels sang — "  Unto  you  is  born  this  day  in  the  city  of  David, 
a  Saviour  whois  Christ  the  Lord."  So  also  he  came  down, 
in  the  form  of  God,  to  create  the  heavens  and  the  earth ; 
when,  as  he  himself  informs  Job,  "the  morning  stars  sang 
together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy." 

Having  assumed  external  form,  in  which  he  would  per- 
sonally act,  God  impresses  upon  this  system,  which  is  sum- 
marily denominated  the  heavens  and  the  earth  and  all  their 
host,  a  corresponding  character.  I  mean  to  be  understood 
as  intimating,  that  his  intelligent  creature  man,  whom  he 
designed  to  create,  was  to  be  an  intellectual  spirit,  inhabit- 
ing a  bodily  form ;  and  that  a  material  structure  was  now 
framed,  to  subserve  the  various  purposes  which  such  a  state 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  167 

of  being,  as  has  been  predicated  of  man,  would  involve. 
By  this  series  of  outward  agencies  God  manifested  his  own 
character,  together  with  the  principles  of  his  actions,  in  a 
manner  correspondent  with  the  constitution  of  the  human 
being;  inasmuch  as  it  is  evident  that  man,  being  destitute 
of  what  have  been  called  "  innate  ideas,"  must  acquire  his 
information  by  his  corporeal  senses,  and  from  exterior 
sources.  At  the  same  time,  while  this  external  system  af- 
fords to  him  the  range  of  his  observation,  it  also  prescribes 
the  sphere,  and  furnishes  the  means  of  his  individual  and 
responsible  actions. 

Hence  it  is  said — "the  heavens  declare  the  o;lorv  of  God. 
and  the  earth  showeth  forth  his  handy  works  :" — "  The  in- 
visible things  of  him  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by 
the  things  which  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  god- 
head. That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  "  thus"  man- 
ifested among  men ;  for  God  hath  thereby  showed  it  unto 
them."  So  that  the  whole  material  fabric  is  intended  to 
subserve  a  principle  of  symbolic,  or  scenic  representation, 
suited  to  the  present  mode  of  man's  existence.  And  our 
future  concern  will  necessarily  be,  to  watch  and  describe 
the  development  of  this  principle. 

Jehovah  pronounces  his  work  to  be  very  good.  He  in- 
tended to  exhibit  himself  to  mankind  as  good.  Just  as  he 
has  done  in  the  gospel,  or  in  the  work  of  reconciliation,  so 
he  did  at  the  beginning : — he  sought  to  leave  the  best  im- 
pression of  his  own  character  upon  his  creatures.  God  is 
love.  He  has  no  pleasure  nor  satisfaction  in  any  injury 
which  his  creatures  can  sustain.  He  does  whatever  the 
nature  of  the  case  will  permit  him  to  do,  to  promote  their 
welfare ;  or  he  multiplies  his  blessings,  employs  his  re- 
straints, and  exerts  his  influences  for  their  benefit,  and  as 
far  as  is  consistent  with  their  free-agency.  To  go  farther, 
and  interfere  with,  or  take  away  from  them  their  free-agency, 
is  no  part  of  his  law  or  of  his  providence.  To  do  this 
would  be  to  despoil  man  of  his  glory ;  and  to  inflict  upor 


168  LECTURES  ON 

him  the  sorest  evil  which  he  can  possibly  suffer.  God's 
government  is,  and  always  has  been,  a  government  of  Love 
Such  is  the  view  which  he  designed  and  desires  to  give  of 
himself;  and  our  first  parents  wrere  placed  in  the  happiest 
circumstances,  from  which  such  an  impression  of  the  di- 
vine character  could  be  derived. 

All  the  different  parts  of  creation  were  most  wisely  ad- 
justed and  carefully  adapted  to  each  other.  A  series  of 
causes  originated  a  corresponding  series  of  effects ;  a  sys- 
tem of  reciprocal  relations,  exceedingly  multiform  and  di- 
versified, wTas  instituted ;  and  the  whole  was  so  accurately 
framed,  so  well  proportioned,  and  so  bountifully  supplied, 
that  the  entire  combination  could  be  sustained  in  unbroken 
order,  and  undisturbed  harmony.  God  always  acts  right. 
The  most  laborious  research,  the  most  scrutinizing  analysis, 
the  most  minute  experiment,  can  detect  nothing  wrong  in 
any  of  his  works.  The  farther  our  investigation  is  carried, 
the  more  our  admiration  is  excited,  and  our  confidence  se- 
cured. All  men,  even  now  that  evil  has  been  introduced 
by  the  fall,  live  by  faith  in  the  divine  providence,  and  grow 
wise  by  studying  his  stately  and  consistent  movements.  If 
the  laws  of  nature  were  erroneous,  if  nothing  could  com- 
mand our  eulogy  by  its  wisdom,  or  instruct  us  by  its  recti- 
tude, goodness  could  not  have  been  displayed  ;  we  could 
have  had  no  motive  to  act,  no  incentive  to  hope,  no  sub- 
ject for  praise.  The  divine  character  could  not  have  been 
an  object  of  contemplation  to  an  intelligent  being,  nor  a 
pattern  for  imitation  to  a  creature  of  moral  obligation.  Place 
these  two  views  together,  or  consider  the  finished  work  of 
creation  as  both  right  and  good,  and  we  shall  have  the 
very  matter  exhibited  which  has  been  specified  in  the  di- 
vine law ;  which  every  intelligent  being  must  approve ; 
and  which  the  Redeemer  has  set  before  us  in  the  gospel ; 
and  that  is — righteousness  produces  happiness.  This  is  the 
elemental  principle  of  all  government,  and  is  the  philoso* 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  169 

phy  of  life.     Accordingly,  the  great  Creator  has  most  mag- 
nificently and   gloriously  displayed  it  in  his  own  work. 

But  in  reviewing  this  original  work  of  the  Creator,  we 
are  bound  to  contemplate  more  than  the  exhibited  charac- 
ter of  the  Creator  himself.     The  distinguishing  features  of 
the  creature  also,  and  the  principles  which  belong  to  its  in- 
dividual being  or  action,  require  our  most  deliberate  atten- 
tion. Here  the  question  of  power  and  responsibility  arises — 
a  question,  the  debates  on  which  occupy  so  much  space  in 
theological  controversies  ;  and  a  misapprehension  of  which 
may  lead  to  the  most  fearful  mistakes.     Now  it  must  be 
evident,  on  the  face  of  the  Mosaic  account,  as  well  as  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  that  each  creature  was  formed  in  view 
of  a  particular  design,  which  it  was  made  competent  to  ex- 
ecute ;  that  the  laws  of  its  being  were  impressed  upon,  or 
incorporated  with,  its  own  nature  ;  or  that  the  material  body 
which  is  presented  to  the  eye,  is  the  mere  visible  organi- 
zation under,  or  within,  which   certain  principles  or  laws 
were  put  into  operation  ;  and  that  no  creature  could  be  ex- 
pected to  act  above,  or  contrary  to  the  laws  which  belonged 
to  its  own  constitution.     Hence  Moses  represents  every 
living  creature  as  made  after  its  kind ;  and  speaks  of  the 
herb  yielding  seed,  whose  seed  is  in  itself;  and  the  fruit 
tree  yielding  fruit,  whose  seed  is  in  itself.     He  states  facts 
in  their  own  simplicity,  and  as  though  he  were  altogether 
unconscious  of  the  difficulties  which  more  modern  writers 
have    discovered  in  relation  to  ability  and  inability.     He 
looked  upon  the  whole  scene  before  him  with  an  unpre- 
judiced eye  ;  and  his  observations  are  made  with  all  the 
familiarity  of  the  first  and  simple  impression  he  had  re- 
ceived.    Jesus  uses  the  same  style  of  remark,  when   he 
compares  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  a  man   casting   seed 
into   the   ground — "  the  earth,"  says  he,    "bringeth  forth 
fruit  of  itself" 

Each  individual  creature,  it  is  evident,  must  act,  or  ope- 
rate, according  to  the  laws  of  its  being.    Beyond  these  laws 
Vo*.,  I.— 15 


170  LECTURES  ON 

ft  cannot  go.  Whatever  power  might  be  predicated  of  it, 
must  exist  within  the  range  of  those  laws.  Destroy  those 
laws,  and  its  power  is  destroyed :  interrupt  their  operation, 
and  the  exercise  of  its  power  is  interrupted.  A  fig  tree 
cannot  produce  grapes  ;  neither  can  figs  be  gathered  from 
the  vine.  No  intelligent  or  consistent  moralist  would  carry 
his  ideas  of  power  any  farther  ;  would  attempt  to  tax  the 
providence  of  God  beyond  the  laws  which  divine  legisla- 
tion has  established ;  or,  depending  on  omnipotence,  would 
defend  the  wisdom  of  a  prayer  that  besought  the  Eternal  to 
cover  the  fig  tree  with  grapes,  or  the  vine  with  figs.  Nei- 
ther should  any  wisdom  be  manifested  in  a  hypothetical 
exposition  of  power,  which  should  destroy  the  fig  tree  or 
the  vine,  and  then  piously  refer  to  Jehovah  for  the  figs  or 
the  grapes. 

If  we  may  conceive  of  a  case,  in  which  the 'action  of 
the  laws  belonging  to  the  constitution  of  any  creature, 
should  be  suspended  or  impaired,  so  that  the  effect  contem- 
plated by  the  existence  of  that  creature  did  not  and  could 
not  follow,  and  then  inquire  what  the  remedy  must  be — the 
answer  is  at  hand.  Every  one  can  see  that  the  remedy 
would  consist  in  restoring  the  suspended  action  of  those 
laws.  Can  any  good  reason  be  assigned  why,  in  such  a 
case,  we  should  prefer  to  confide  in  the  mere  omnipotence 
of  God,  working  without  means  ;  when  the  universal  cha- 
racteristic of  the  material  system  is,  that  he  works  by  means  ? 
Can  any  one  tell  us,  why  the  fruits  of  the  summer  should 
be  produced  by  the  immediate  power  of  God,  rather  than  by 
the  intervention  of  secondary  causes,  which  the  season  itself 
affords  ? — But  this  is  a  very  plain  matter ;  yet  the  principle 
of  divine  operation,  or  the  view  of  a  creature's  power  of 
operation,  so  simple  in  this  connexion,  becomes  a  puissant 
affair  in  the  metaphysical  theology  of  learned  sectarians. 

To  proceed.  Moses  next  introduces  man  to  our  notice, 
and  apprises  us  of  some  very  peculiar  circumstances  con- 
nected with  his  creation. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  '  171 

1.  The  Elohim  are  again  presented  under  that  plurality 
of  view,  which  has  already  been  the  subject  of  protracted 
discussion  in  the  preceding  lectures.  The  Elohim  said, 
"let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  and  after  our  likeness." 
How  shall  we  understand  this  language  ? 

You  are  all  aware,  that  this  is  not  the  only  instance  in 
which  this  kind  of  phraseology  is  employed.  You  remem- 
ber, that  after  the  fall,  the  historian  represents  Jehovah-Elo- 
Aim  as  remarking, — "  Behold  the  man  is  become  as  one  of 
us."  And  again,  when  he  descended  to  the  plains  of  Shi- 
nar  to  confound  the  language  of  men,  he  said — "  Go  to,  let 
us  go  down  and  there  confound  their  language." — Other 
instances  might  be  adduced :  but  the  foregoing  are  suffi- 
cient. The  question  is,  where  is  their  propriety  ?  In  re- 
ply, I  remark, 

(1.)  That  as  we  have  had  exhibited  to  us  two  distinct 
manifestations  of  God,  with  only  one  of  which  it  is  possi- 
ble for  us  to  have  any  familiarity  in  our  present  lapsed  con- 
dition; we  must  obtain  our  principles  of  explanation  from 
the  one,  and  apply  them  to  the  other,  so  far  as  our  minds 
.can  carry  them.  Now  when  the  Redeemer  said — "If  a 
man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words  ;  and  my  Father  will 
love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him  and  make  our  abode 
with  him,"— who  feels  any  difficulty?  But  here  the  doc- 
trine of  a  divine  manifestation  in  an  outward  form — while 
Jehovah,  considered,  in  himself  as  a  Spirit,  is  no  object  of 
our  vision — or  the  scriptural  exhibition  of  one  God  and  one 
Lord,  is  so  palpable  and  distinct,  that  no  inconsistency  is 
suspected ;  or  it  readily  vanishes.  The  original  manifesta- 
tion constructed  on  the  same  principle,  and  holding  out  to 
human  observation  one  God  and  one  Lord,  may  well  be  con- 
ceded to  have  been  as  clear  when  it  was  afforded;  and 
would  be  so  to  us  now,  were  it  as  possible  for  us  to  see  as 
it  was  for  Adam.  If  that  concession  be  made— and  I  can- 
not conjecture  why  it  should  be  withheld — all  the  difficulty 
prising  from  the  use  of  such  language  is  removed. 


1^2  LECTURES  Otf 

(2.)  The  noun,  by  which  God  is  designated  to  us,  is  ill 
the  plural  number :  so  that,  on  grammatical  principles,  other 
words  which  would  be  grammatically  connected  with  it 
must  be  modified  so  as  to  correspond.  And  as  the  mani- 
festation is  personal,  the  personal  pronouns  readily  fall  un- 
der the  same  philological  rule. 

(3.)  Other  scriptural  expressions,  and  applied  to  man,  re* 
quire  the  same  indulgence  in  interpretation— if  indulgence 
it  may  be  called.  Such  are  the  following :— "  Return  unto 
thy  rest,  0  my  soul,  for  the  Lord  hath  dealt  bountifully  with 
thee."  "Bless  the  Lord,  Omy  soul,"  again  and  again  re- 
peated by  David. — "  For  that  which  /  do,  /  allow  not :  for 
what  /  would,  that  do  /not;  but  what  /  hate,  that  do  /. 
Now  if  /  do  that  /  would  not,  it  is  no  more  /that  do  it,  but 
sin  that  dwelleth  in  me.  /  know  that  in  me,  i.  e.  in  my 
flesh,  dwelleth  no  good  thing."  Such  is  Paul's  language. 
And  it  becomes  if  possible  more  striking,  when  speaking 
of  himself,  as  having  been  caught  up  into  paradise,  he  says 
— "Of  such  an  one  will  I  glory;  yet  of  myself  I  will  not 
glory,  but  in  my  infirmities."  All  these  different  modes  of 
expression  are,  as  applied  to  the  same  person,  under  the 
same  personal  view,  highly  improper ;  but  they  are  both 
correct  and  beautiful,  interesting  and  necessary,  when  ap- 
plied to  the  same  person  under  different  personal  views. 

(4.)  While  these  expressions  may  be  illustrated  on  the 
distinction  which  has  been  stated,  we*  are  forbidden  to  carry 
that  distinction  so  far  as  to  overthrow  the  doctrine  of  the  di- 
vine unity.  Not  only  are  we  explicitly  informed  that  there 
is  but  one  God,  but  in  the  very  passage  from  which  these 
plural  pronouns  have  been  taken,  singular  pronouns  are  used 
with  equal  familiarity:  for  it  is  said — "So  Elohim  created 
man  in  his  own  image  :  in  the  image  of  Elohim  created 
he  him  ;  male  and  female  created  he  them."  And  after- 
wards Elohim  said — "  Behold  /have  given  you  every  herb." 
"  Hast  thou  eaten  of  the  tree,  whereof  /  commanded  thee 
that  thou  shouldst  not  eat?"     While  then  the  distinction 


MOKAL  GOVERNMENT,  173 

stated  is,  on  the  one  hand,  necessary  to  explain  the  phrase- 
ology ;  on  the  other,  the  phraseology  itself  restricts  us  from 
going  beyond  the  distinction. 

(5.)  On  the  supposition  that  our  physiology  in  explaining 
Spirit,  Soul,  and  Body  as  belonging  to  the  human  hyposta- 
sis or  Person,  has  not  been  a  mistake  which  mere  fancy  has 
substituted  for  science,  and  supposing  that  Spirit,  Soul  and 
Body  are  ascribed  to  God,  these  expressions,  both  as  sin- 
gular and  plural,  are  easily  defended.  For  if,  when  Soul 
exists,  a  distinct  subsistence  is  presented,  or  an  hypostasis  or 
personis  formed;  and  if  Soul  is  not  to  be  predicated  of  God, 
considered  as  he  is  in  himself  a  pure  Spirit,  any  more  than 
it  can  be  predicated  of  our  spirits  after  they  shall  have  left 
our  bodies  :  and  if,  in  this  view  it  is  a  proper  declaration- — 
"  In  the  beginning  the  Word  was,  and  the  Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  was  God,"  then  these  expressions  are 
strictly  accurate  in  either  grammatical  construction.  The 
Spirit  of  the  people  resides  in  our  chief  magistrate  as  its 
visible  or  personal  form.  He  is  the  people,  and  yet  is  with 
the  people.  Is  he  guilty  of  any  impropriety  in  incorporat- 
ing either  singular  or  plural  verbs,  nouns,  adjectives,  or  pro- 
nouns in  his  official  communications  ?  What  politician 
would  criticise  the  phraseology  of  his  prince,  as  theologians 
have  criticised  that  of  their  Lord  ?  or  affect,  as  they  have 
done,  not  to  perceive  the  propriety  of  terms  belonging  to  of- 
ficial documents  ?  In  what  language  would  our  hypercri- 
tical theologues  wish  an  official  agent,  who  must  necessa- 
rily be  considered  both  as  a  person  and  a  representative,  to 
express  himself  so  as  to  offend  neither  their  physiology  nor 
their  philology  ?  A  common  author  feels  himself  to  move 
imong  official  men,  and  unhesitatingly  uses  singular  or  plu- 
ral epithets  as  he.  may  find  most  convenient,  or  suppose  3 
limself  to  be  uttering;  the  sentiments  of  his  readers. 

I  am  fully  aware  that  others  have  considered  the  lan- 
guage, on  which  we  are  remarking,  as  official.  But  then  it 
s  supposed  to  be  the  invention  of  earthly  princes ;  and  the 
15* 


174  LECTURES  ON 

inspired  writers  are  said  to  borrow  it,  that  God  may  seem  to 
speak  with  appropriate  condescension.  And  did  these 
princes  borrow  the  official  title  also,  and  out  of  mere  conde- 
scension designate  Jehovah  as  ElohIm  ?  Is  the  political 
doctrine  of  representation,  and  of  official  images  a  like  loan  ? 
or  is  not  civil  government  an  ordinance  of  God  ?  Has  he  not 
established  the  political  as  well  as  the  natural  relations  of 
mankind?  and  is  not  man,  viewed  officially,  made  in  the 
image  of,  or  like  unto,  God  ?  Here  then  a  licentious  criti- 
cism has  not  only  overreached,  but  reversed  the  fact. — Is 
it  any  matter  of  wonder  that  the  world  is  full  of  theological 
strife  and  sectarian  animosities,  when  such  modes  of  inter- 
pretation become  popular,  and  the  human  mind  is  so  readi- 
ly fascinated  by  any  hasty  comment  that  is  seemingly  in- 


genious. 


2.  The  Elohim  are  sard  to  make  man  in  their  own  image, 
and  after  their  own  likeness. 

This  image  is  supposed  to  consist  in  "knowledge,  right- 
eousness and  true  holiness."*  Now  that  God  is  character- 
ized by  knowledge,  righteousness  and  true  holiness,  there 
can  be  no  doubt;  and  when  man  possesses  these  attributes, 
there  is  as  little  doubt  that  he  is  like  God.  But  that  they 
cannot  be  included  in  the  record,  at  present  under  consid- 
eration, is  evident:  because, 

( 1 .)  Knowledge,  righteousness  and  true  holiness,  suppose 
intellectual  and  moral  exercises,  in  which  man  could  not 
have  been  engaged  until  he  was  created  and  put  on  his  pro- 
bation. He  obtains  his  knowledge  from  the  sphere  of  ob- 
servation that  is  opened  to  him.  Not  having  any  "innate 
ideas,"  he  must  depend  upon  his  external  resources;  and, 
until  as  an  intellectual  being  he  was  put  on  those  resources, 
he  could  not  possess  the  ideas  which  were  to  be  derived  from 
them.  Righteousness,  in  like  manner,  is  conformity  to  law ; 
and  he  could  not,  therefore,  have  righteousness  until  he  had 
conformed  to  law. — How  is  the  fact,  or  how  should  have 

*  The  idea  is  taken  from  Eph.  iv.  23,  24.— Col.  iii.  10.. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  175 

been  the  fact,  with  regard  to  infants?  Do  they  know  any 
thing  before  or  when  they  are  born  ?  or  are  their  actions 
either  righteous  or  sinful  ? 

(2.)  The  image  of  God  has  not  always  the  same  meaning 
in  the  scriptures. — "A  man  indeed,"  says  Paul,  "ought 
not  to  cover  his  head,  for  as  much  as  he  is  the  image  and 
glory  of  God;  but  the  woman  is  the  glory  of  the  man." 
Was  not  the  woman  made  in  the  image  of  God  ?  See  the 
record. 

It  has  also  been  asserted,  that  by  the  fall  of  Adam,  all 
mankind  have  lost  the  image  of  God.  Neither  can  this  as- 
sertion be  sustained  by  the  scriptures.  For  when  God  re- 
newed the  mediatorial  constitution  with  Noah,  as  "  the  heir 
of  the  righteousness  of  faith,"  he  assigned  as  the  reason  of 
a  statute  in  relation  to  murder,  then  promulgated — "  For  in 
the  image  of  God  made  he  man  ;"  which  reason  is  still  good, 
or  the  statute  cannot  be  sustained.  In  the  text  just  quoted 
from  the  pen  of  the  apostle  Paul,  it  is  expressly  asserted  that 
the  man  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God.  And  James,  speak- 
ing of  the  tongue,  observes — "Therewith  bless  we  God, 
even  the  Father ;  and  therewith  curse  we  men,  which  are 
made  after  the  similitude  of  God." 

All  these  things  are  readily  explained  by  the  fact,  that  as 
Elohim  means  Jehovah,  who  is  a  spirit,  as  manifested  in 
personal  form,  and  acting  independently  of  that  form  in  his 
continual  providence  ;  so  man,  being  made  in  their  image  or 
after  their  likeness,  was  similarly  constituted  :  i.  e.  man  has 
an  intellectual  spirit,  dwelling  in  an  external  form  or  body ; 
which  spirit  may  exist  and  exert  an  influence  independently 
of  his  bodily  presence. — The  allusion  which  the  apostle 
makes,  in  describing  the  man  as  the  image  of  God,  and  the 
woman  as  the  glory  of  the  man,  is  not  to  this  primary  view, 
but  to  official  standing  and  authority.  Adam  was  our  so- 
cial head.     Eve  was  not. 

The  first  circumstance  which  we  are  required  to  notice 
concerning  man— the  general    matters   being  settled — is 


176  LECTURES  ON 

that  he  has  a  body.  God  has  created  him  with  an  animal 
nature.  And  this  body,  like  every  other  creature,  has  its 
own  laws  impressed  upon,  or  incorporated  within  itself:  all 
of  which  laws  are  necessary  to  its  well  being.  It  is  a  beau- 
tiful piece  of  divine  mechanism,  ''fearfully  and  wonder- 
fully made;"  displaying  the  divine  wisdom  in  one  of  its 
loveliest  efforts  ;  and  putting  to  the  blush  the  absurdity  of 
atheistical  speculation.  It  must  act  according  to  its  own 
laws — not  contrary  to  them — not  above  them.  Nothing 
else,  nothing  more,  can  be  expected  from  it :  nor  can  we 
imagine  that  the  divine  power  will  be  exerted  to  sustain  it 
in  a  train  of  operations,  for  which  it  is  not  constitutionally 
fitted. 

The  body  of  man,  it  is  necessary  further  to  remark,  was 
produced  from  the   dust  of  the  ground.     It  originates  in, 
and  from,  this  material  system,  or  is  a  component  part  of 
it.     This  fact  in  relation  to  the  origin  of  the  body,  as  traced 
to  the  laws  of  the  material  system,  is  never  lost  sight  of  in 
the  scriptural  representations   concerning  it:  in  proof  of 
which   assertion,  let  the  following  texts  be  submitted. — 
"  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou 
return  to  the  ground ;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken  :  for 
dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return."     "  Remem- 
ber, I  beseech  thee,  that  thou  hast  made  me   as  the  clay : 
and  wilt  thou  bring  me  into  dust  again  ?"   "All  flesh  shall 
perish  together,  and  man  shall  turn  again  to  dust"     "  He 
knoweth  om  frame,  he   remembereth  that  we  are  dust." 
"  Then  shall  the  dust  return  to  the  earth  as  it  was."   "  We 
have  had  fathers  of  our  flesh,  who  corrected  us,   and  we  i 
gave  them  reverence." 

The  next  circumstance  that  is  observed  concerning  man 
is,  that  he  has  an  intellectual  spirit.  Without  this  he 
could  not  resemble  Elohim.  This  spirit  is  the  immediate 
gift  of  God,  and  did  not  spring  from  the  dust,  nor  is  it  the  . 
offspring  of  the  material  system.  God  breathed  into  man's 
nostrils,  when  his  body  was  brought  forth  from  the  ground, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  177 

the  breath  of  lives  ;  i.  e.  both  animal  an  intellectual  life. 
The  same  idea  is  preserved  throughout  the  scriptures. — 
"  The  spirit  shall  return  to  God  who  gave  it."  "  We  have 
had  fathers  of  our  flesh — shall  we  not  much  rather  be  in 
subjection  to  the  Father  of  spirits  and  live."  "  0  God, 
the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh."  "  None  of  them  can 
by  any  means  redeem  his  brother,  nor  give  to  God  a  ran- 
som for  him,  for  the  redemption  of  their  soul  is  precious." 
"  There  is  no  man  that  hath  power  over  the  spirit,  to  retain 
the  spirit."  "  The  burthen  of  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which 
stretched  forth  the  heavens,  and  layeth  the  foundation  of 
the  earth,  and  formeth  the  spirit  of  man  within  him." 
"  Fear  not  them  that  kill  the  body,  but  are.  not  able  to  de- 
stroy the  soul;  but  rather  fear  him,  which  is  able  to  destroy 
both  soul  and  body  in  hell."  To  God,  then,  immediately 
and  directly,  are  we  indebted  for  our  spirits.  They  have 
no  earthly  father. 

I  am  aware  of  the  argument  that  has  been  employed, 
and  by  no  secondary  men,  to  disprove  the  origin  of  the 
human  spirit,  as  it  has  just  been  declared.  But  I  must  be 
permitted  to  leave  their  argument  on  this  subject  unnoticed; 
as  it  is  advanced  principally  to  sustain  a  doctrine,  which 
we  shall  hereafter  have  opportunities  enough  to  demon- 
strate to  be  unscriptural. 

It  may,  however,  be  remarked,  that  the  question  itself  is 
old ;  and  gave  rise  to  much  litigation  in  those  ages  which 
moulded  theology  into  the  stately  forms  that  sectarians  so 
much  admire.  Tertullian  and  Origen  and  Jerome  and 
Augustine  and  Pelagius  were  alike  interested  in  it.  But 
the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  which  so  fully  discloses  the  ig- 
norance of  the  physiologists  of  those  times,  evinces  that 
the  real  difference  between  soul  and  spirit  entered  not 
into  their  ratiocinations.  Had  it,  the  fact  that  man  is  made 
like  God,  coupled  with  the  assumption  of  human  nature 
by  the  divine  Spirit,  would  have  settled  the  question.  In 
the  constitution  of  a  divine  person,  spirit  and  form  are 


178  LECTURES  ON 

not  the  same.  Then  it  appears  that  spirit  may  exist  inde- 
pendent of  form,  and  that  the  two  belong  to  different  or- 
ders of  being.  So  in  man,  spirit  may  exist  indepen- 
dently of  his  body — the  one  being  mortal  and  the  other  im- 
mortal, they  are  thus  evinced  to  belong  to  different  orders, 
because  governed  by  different  laws.  Augustine  pleaded 
igno7'ance,  i.  e.  he  could  not  establish  the  very  plea  which 
was  the  turning  point  of  his  system.  If  any  one  can  prove 
that  we  derive  our  spirits,  as  well  as  our  bodies,  from  those 
who  are  styled  "the  fathers  of  our  flesh,"  or  that  God,  to 
whom  it  returns,  did  not  give  the  spirit,  the  doctrine  of 
temporal  and  spiritual  and  eternal  death,  as  the  legal  and 
necessary  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  would  be  irrefuta- 
ble. It  may  have  been  very  pious  and  candid  in  Augus- 
tine to  have  remarked — "  When  the  bible  gives  no  decisive 
testimony,  human  presumption  must  beware  of  determin- 
ing either  for  one  view  or  another.  Had  the  knowledge  of 
such  things  been  essential  to  salvation,  the  scriptures  would 
have  contained  more  respecting  them."*  But  the  know- 
ledge of  "  these  things"  was  essential  to  his  doctrines.  Tq 
have  been  able  to  affirm  the  human  origin  of  the  human 
spirit,  would  have  incontrovertibly  settled  his  system ;  or 
had  he  demonstrated  his  dogmas,  that  demonstration  would 
have  proved  the  human  origin  of  the  human  spirit.  But 
he  hesitated,  and  charitably  warned  us  against  the  pre- 
sumption  of  inquiry.  Is  it  not  equally  presumptuous  to 
affirm  doctrines,  whose  evidence  we  dare  not  touch?  There 
is  "  a  polemical,"  as  well  as  "  a  purely  scientific,  interest," 
in  the  exhibition  of  ecclesiastical  tenets,  which  needs  to  be 
sustained  by  the  influence  of  great  names.  In  this  con^ 
nexion  Augustine  is  quoted,  and  it  is  well  to  know  what 
such  quotations  are  worth. 

The  spirit  of  man,  like  every  other  creature,  has  its  own 
laws  impressed  upon,  or  incorporated  within  itself.  Paul 
has  expressed  my  idea  thus : — "The   gentiles  do  by  na- 

*  Bib.  Reper.  1833,  p.  10S.    Neander  trans,  by  Woods. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  179 

ture  the  things  contained  in  the  law — which  show  the 
work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts"  Like  every  other 
creature  then,  the  spirit  of  man  is  under  a  necessary  obli- 
gation to  act  according  to  the  laws  of  its  own  nature  : — 
not  contrary  to,  nor  above,  but  in  perfect  correspon- 
dence with  them.  Nor  is  the  power  of  God  to  be  expect- 
ed either  to  legislate  for,  or  to  act  by  the  human  spirit,  in 
any  manner  that  is  not  consistent  with  its  nature,  nor  pro- 
portioned to  its  faculties.  Neither  is  it  to  be  supposed, 
while  these  faculties  are  suffered  to  lie  dormant,  or  are  not 
called  out  into  action  to  the  whole  extent  of  their  force, 
that  God  will  gratuitously  supply  the  deficiencies  by  an 
effort  of  his  own  omnipotence. 

Here,  therefore,  or  in  the  constitution  of  each  individual 
human  being,  is  laid  the  basis  of  his  personal  responsibility. 
Whatever  may  be  his  social  relations,  or  however  his  earth- 
ly condition  may  be  modified,  he  yet  has  an  individuality, 
which  must  be  his  essential  charactertstic  while  his  spirit 
exists.  His  body  may  be  enthralled,  but  his  mind  must  be 
free  ;  and  he  must  give  account  for  himself  to  his  Creator. 
No  one  man  can  eat  or  drink  for  any  other  man ;  but  the 
organs  of  each  animal  system  must  possess  their  own  vitali- 
ty, and  sustain  their  own  functional  operations  ;  in  like 
manner,  no  one  man  can  think  for  any  other  man  ;  but 
each  individual  spirit  has  its  own  characteristic  faculties, 
and  these  must  sustain  their  own  personal  operations.  It 
is  this  individuality  of  being,  with  all  its  appended  rights 
and  primordial  privileges,  that  mankind  are  now  waking 
up  to  consider ;  and  which,  with  such  spasmodic  effort, 
they  are  pleading  against  both  political  and  ecclesiastical 
misrule.  Nor  will  the  controversy  terminate  until  the  vic- 
tory is  acheived  ;  and  the  aristocracy  of  the  dark  ages  falls 
disfrachised,  before  the  banner  of  intellectual  freedom. 
The  assumed  principles  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  des- 
potism are  contrary  to  both  nature  and  revelation. 


180  LECTURES  ON 

The  Son  of  God  himself,  while  upon  earth,  could  not 
think  for  his  hearers.  Hence  he  asked  them  with  so  much 
point,  "Why  do  ye  not  understand  my  speech;"  and  re- 
plied with  so  much  plainness — "because  ye  cannot  hear 
my  word."  Their  prejudices — their  sluggishness — their 
deeply  seated  errors — their  familiar,  but  inaccurate,  techni- 
calities— tfteir  sectarian  dogmatism — their  crude,  but  ste- 
reotyped maxims,  derived  from  the  traditions  of  the  elders, 
and  sustained  by  the  commandments  of  men,  prevented 
them  from  hearing  either  candidly  or  correctly.  Hence 
they  misrepresented  his  doctrines,  traduced  his  character, 
reviled  his  ministrations,  and  upbraided  him  under  the 
harshest  epithets.  "  This  people's  heart,"  said  he,  "  is 
waxed  gross,  and  their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing,  and  their 
eyes  they  have  closed ;  lest  at  any  time  they  should  see 
with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  should  under- 
stand with  their  hearts,  and  should  be  converted,  and  I 
should  heal  them."  And  again,  in  his  last  hours  and  in 
full  view  of  his  cross,  contrasting  his  own  benevolent  feel- 
ing towards  them  with  all  their  unkindness  to  him,  he  said, 
"  0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets, 
and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would 
I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  ga- 
thereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not." 
Let  the  human  spirit  then  be  either  holy  or  sinful,  it  must, 
from  its  own  nature,  think  for  itself :— -no  other  being  can 
think  for  it. 

It  is  unquestionably  true,  that  one  man  may  express  his 
thoughts  to  other  men ;  and  that  they,  taking  up  those 
thoughts,  may  professedly  and  habitually  act  upon  them. — 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  this  species  of  intellectual  opera- 
tion in  the  world  ;  and  there  necessarily  must  be.  It  is  one 
of  the  finest  and  best  views  of  the  social  character  of  man ; 
but  when  abused,  it  leads  to  the  most  direful  and  disastrous 
consequences.  It  affords  ample  room  for  the  two  extremes 
attendant  on  human  concerns — good  and  evil.     On  the  one 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  181 

hand,  it  is  the  very  soul  of  the  creed-making  system ;  is  the 
only  support  of  political  or  ecclesiastical  despotism,  when 
it  connects  an  approval  of  the  dogmas  of  past  ages  with 
civil  or  religious  privileges  ;  and  can  alone  account  for  that 
idolatrous  reverence  for  the  fathers,  which  eulogizes  so 
highly  their  talents,  their  learning  and  their  piety,  and  smiles 
so  sarcastically  at  the  pigmy  pretensions  of  their  children ; 
while,  I  fear,  it  has  actually  made  pigmies  of  us  all.    It  al- 
ways has  been,  and  it  would  seem  that  it  always  must  be 
so,  that  men  who  are  too  timid,  or  too  indolent  to  think  for 
themselves,  should  perpetually  detail  the  thoughts  of  others. 
And  then  again,  many  who  pretend  to  think  for  themselves, 
are  all  the  time  meditating  upon  the  ideas  of  those  who  have 
been  long  numbered  with    "  the  pale  nations  of  the  dead." 
How  important  is  the  question  now-a-days,  what  Calvin,  or 
Luther,  or  Owen,  or  Edwards,  and  a  host  of  others,  meant 
in  their  writings  ?     Can  any  one  conceive  a  more  humilia- 
ting intellectual  spectacle,  than  when  whole  denominations 
of  religious  men — the    old    in  their  dogmatism,   and  the 
young  in  their  intemperate  zeal — are  biting  and  devouring 
one  another,  while  professedly  arguing  out  such  an  unpro- 
fitable question  ?     But  look  abroad — hear,  see,  read,  and  de- 
cide for  yourselves. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  principle  of  intellectual  opera- 
tion, by  which  the  human  spirit  takes  cognizance  of  sur- 
rounding objects  that  are  presented  to  its  contemplation,  is 
incorporated  in  the  divine  government  over  man.  When 
Jehovah  created  the  world,  he  made  an  exhibition  of  him- 
self, with  the  view  of  arranging  subjects  of  thought  for  his 
intelligent  creatures.  The  fact  is  abundantly  evident.  The 
divine  works  furnish  to  us  the  matters  of  our  varied  inves- 
tigation. But  the  knowledge  which  they  are  intended  to 
impart  cannot  be  acquired  without  effort  or  reflection.  The 
Redeemer  did  not  ask  the  credence  of  his  hearers  to  mere 
assertion,  but  appealed  to  every  variety  of  evidence  of 
which  the  subject  was  susceptible — to  creation— to  provi* 

I         Vol.  I.— 16 


182  LECTURES  ON 

dence — to  the  scriptures — to  reason — to  his  own  miracu- 
lous works.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  not  given  to  control  or 
subdue  us  by  repeated  emanations  of  resistless  power,  nor 
to  preclude  the  necessity  for  personal  inquiry ;  but  he  is 
sent  to  convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of 
judgment.  Jehovah  no  more  deals  with  the  spirit  of  man 
irrespective  of  its  own  high  faculties,  than  he  sustains  our 
animal  life  by  a  providence  that  gratuitously  dispenses  with 
daily  labor.  The  very  principle  of  intellectual  improve- 
ment is  to  be  found  in  our  intellectual  effort.  A  debased 
mind  must  be  regenerated  ;  a  corrupt  life  must  be  reformed  ; 
the  being  who  has  gone  astray  must  be  brought  back ;  and 
personally  to  attend  to  and  achieve  this  momentous  change, 
is  the  matter  of  moral  obligation  which  the  scriptures  pre- 
scribe. Personal  responsibility  is  therefore  the  necessary 
result  of  our  personal  existence;  and  no  institution  or  ope- 
ration of  God  is  intended  to  set  it  aside.  Every  man  must 
give  an  account  of,  and  for,  himself  to  his  Creator. 

This  intellectual  spirit,  Which  Elohim  breathed  into  man, 
is  made  for  the  time  being  a  tenant  of  the  body  that  had 
been  formed  from  the  ground.  The  body  then  is  the  in- 
strument by  which  the  spirit  acts.  This  acquires  its  ideas 
by  means  of  the  bodily  senses  ;  and  applies  the  ideas  thus 
obtained  to  the  various  purposes  of  life,  or,  in  the  discharge 
of  its  responsibilities,  according  to  the  measure  of  ability 
which  belongs  to  the  body.  Weaken  the  powers  of  the 
body,  and  the  spirit's  ability  to  act  is  necessarily  diminished. 
A  man  cannot  act  in  sickness  as  he  can  in  health.  A  blind 
man  can  have  no  idea  of  colors,  and  a  deaf  man  can  have 
no  idea  of  sound.  A  child  has  no  maturity  of  thought,  and 
in  old  age  "  the  silver  cord  is  loosened  and  the  golden 
bowl  is  broken."  And  hence  Paul  complains,  that  when  he 
would  do  good,  evil  was  present  with  him — that  the  law 
in  his  members  warred  against  the  law  of  his  mind. — Nay, 
how  easily  might  he,  or  any  other  man  be  disturbed !  ' '  Mar- 
vel not,"  says  Pascal,   "  that  this  profound  statesman  is  just 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  183 

now  incapable  of  reasoning  justly  ;  for  behold  a  fly  is  buz- 
zing round  his  head.  If  you  wish  to  restore  to  him  the 
power  of  correct  thinking,  and  of  distinguishing  truth  from 
falsehood,  you  must  first  chase  away  the  insect,  holding  in 
thraldom  that  exalted  reason  and  that  gigantic  intellect 
which  governs  empires  and  decides  the  destinies  of  man- 
kind." 

I  apprehend  that  the  animal  part  of  man  is  but  little  con- 
sidered in  discussions  on  moral  science  ;  and  that,  as  some 
one  remarked  on  contemplating  the  splendid  anatomical 
museum  at  Florence, — "  Philosophy  has  been  in  the  wrong, 
not  to  descend  more  deeply  into  the  physical  man.  There 
it  is  that  the  moral  man  lies  concealed."  The  theologian 
appears  promptly  to  despatch  any  reference  which  might 
be  made  to  it ;  and,  thinking  that  the  question — can  matter 
$in7 — shuts  out  all  necessity  for  illustration,  he  hastens  away 
to  speculate  about  abstract  spirit.  In  like  manner  he  had 
reasoned  about  God  ;  and  now  merely  pursues  his  own  mode 
of  reasoning,  in  thus  treating  man.  Having  contemplated 
the  Creator,  enthroned  in  his  own  inscrutable  perfections 
outside  of  the  world  himself  had  made,  it  was  natural  and 
necessary  to  carry  his  intellectual  creature  in  search  of  him  ; 
and,  if  possible,  to  ascertain  some  points  of  communion  in 
which  the  two  could  meet.  Here,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
the  theologian  fails  ;  and  hence  the  very  virtues  of  the  chris- 
tian, like  the  attributes  of  Godhead,  have  become  profound 
and  inexplicable  mysteries.  For  example  : — Who  can  tell 
us  what  faith  is  ?  No  one.  To  be  sure,  definition  upon 
definition  has  been  afforded  by  systematic  divines.  But 
they  only  throw  the  difficulty  one  step  forward  :  and  when 
pursued,  the  answer  is — Faith  is  the  gift  of  God.  Still,  it 
may  be  asked,  what  is  the  thing  which  is  given?  and  in 
what  sense  is  it  a  gift  ?  Does  God  bestow  faith  upon  us, 
as  he  gives  us  our  daily  bread  ?  Or  are  these  as  different 
in  the  manner  of  their  acquisition,  as  in  their  nature  ? 
Must  we  believe  what  we  do  not  see,  do  not  hear,  do  not 


184  LECTURES  ON 

understand  ?  Or  is  it  as  John  says — "  That  which  we  have 
heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we  have 
looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled  of  the  word  of 
life,  declare  we  unto  you  ?"  If  it  be,  then  we  receive  our 
ideas  through  our  corporeal  senses,  acting  upon  material 
objects  of  which  our  spirits  take  cognizance,  and  judge, 
understand,  are  convinced,  and  believe.  But  in  that  case 
there  is  no  difficulty  or  mystery  about  the  matter.  For  in 
this  view,  faith  is  the  gift  of  God,  as  our  daily  bread  is  the 
gift  of  God :  i.  e.  we  secure  our  daily  bread  by  a  divine  bles- 
sing upon  our  daily  labor  ;  and  so  we  obtain  faith  by  a  divine 
blessing  upon  our  honest  and  patient  investigation  after 
truth.  And  can  it  be  otherwise  ?  How  can  we  believe  in 
him  of  whom  we  have  not  heard  ?  and  how  can  we  hear 
without  a  preacher  ? 

In  other  words : — By  throwing  out  the  animal  part  of 
man  from  any  interest  in  the  great  matter  before  us,  and 
considering  spirit  as  a  pure  abstraction,  theologians  seem 
to  have  forgotten  all  the  peculiarities  of  soul.  In  fact  the 
subject  of  soul  they  have  altogether  mistaken ;  or  so  far 
mistaken,  that  in  attempting  to  explain  the  scriptural  phrase — 
"  Spirit,  Soul  and  Body,"  they  have  very  gravely  told  us 
that  man  has  two  souls  ;  and  then  have  endeavored  to 
govern  him  as  though  he  had  none.  Both  their  metaphysics 
and  their  politics  have  been  but  the  relics  of  the  admired 
age  which  gave  birth  to  creeds,  and  inaugurated  Constan- 
tine  as  the  best  umpire  that  philosophical  theologians  could 
find.  It  is  here  where  the  doctrine  of  "  original  sin"  has 
been  perverted  ;  and  which,  notwithstanding  the  varied 
profile  with  which  it  has  been  pencilled,  has  never  yet  re- 
conciled the  common  sense  of  mankind ;  and  never  will, 
until  controvertists  learn  to  state  the  difference  between, 
and  accurately  to  define  the  separate  interests  of,  soul  and 

SPIRIT. 

In  the  same  manner  many  reason  when  they  reject  all 
typical  ordinances.     All  is  spirit  with  them.     Others  run 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  185 

to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  are  ever  busy  in  formalities  be- 
yond what  is  written.  All  is  body  with  them.  Sermons, 
prayer-meetings,  and  consecrated  days,  seem  to  command 
their  entire  confidence ;  and  they  justify  themselves  to 
their  own  consciences  by  calling  the  excitement,  which  is 
thus  produced  or  revived,  heart-religion  ;  as  though  the 
heart  was  intrinsically  different  from  mind,  or  as  though  Chris- 
tianity did  not  require,  but  was  unfavorable  to,  intellectual 
cultivation.  How  absurd  that  system  necessarily  is,  which 
does  not  enact  and  sanctify  outward  institutions,  as  the 
means  of  mental  illumination  ? 

Out  of  this  peculiarity  of  our  present  mode  of  existence, 
viz :  that  our  intellectual  spirit  dwells  in  an  animal  body, 
arise  all  our  natural  relations.  Take  away  that  fact — let 
the  spirit  return  to  God,  while  the  dust  returns  to  the  dust — 
and  these  natural  relations  cease ;  for,  says  the  Redeemer — 
"in  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in 
marriage."  How  much  more  evident  it  must  be,  that  all 
the  political  relations  of  life,  from  the  paradisiacal  consti- 
tution down,  are  limited  in  the  same  way,  and  confined  in 
their  action  to  the  same  material  organization.  Through 
this  material  organization,  and  by  means  of  its  senses, 
any  objects  connected  with  the  political,  as  well  as 
those  belonging  to  the  natural  relations,  may  be  present- 
ed to  the  human  spirit,  and  form  the  matters  of  its  careful 
revision,  or  its  deliberate  judgment.  It  is  the  nature  and 
province  of  mind  so  to  act ;  nor  is  the  case  altered  by  the 
character  of  the  objects  so  presented.  Whether  they  shall 
be  good  or  evil,  the  mental  exercise  remains  the  same  in 
principle.  The  spirit,  sustaining  its  own  free  agency,  and 
deciding  by  its  own  power  of  conscience,  chooses  between 
good  and  evil,  and  must  meet  the  consequences  of  its  own 
determinations.  All  that  can  be  required  in  order  to  origi- 
nate, and  carry  through  to  its  issue,  such  an  intellectual  pro- 
cess, is  information;  afforded  or  acquired  according  to  the 
established  laws  of  human  nature.  And  the  various  rela- 
16* 


186  LECTURES  ON 

tions  of  life,  whether  considered  to  be  natural  or  political, 
are  intended  to  aid  and  facilitate,  not  to  nullify  nor  impede, 
such  a  train  of  mental  action.  "  He  that  is  called  in  the 
Lord,  being  a  servant,  is  the  Lord's  freeman."  Personal 
responsibility  is  the  high  and  distinguishing  characteristic 
of  our  personal  existence. 

Having  now  traced  up  personal  responsibility  to  its  con- 
stitutional and  necessary  connexions,  let  us  next  inquire 
after  the  law  to  which  the  spirit  was  made  amenable.  From 
the  whole  view  of  creation,  it  must  be  very  evident  that, 
while  every  other  creature  served  definite  objects  suited  to 
its  own  capacities,  the  spirit  of  man  was  made  to  contem- 
plate, to  obey,  and  to  enjoy  God.  Righteousness,  as  pro- 
ductive of  good,  is  the  high  object  it  was  formed  to  gain. 
In  obtaining  that  object,  it  would  act  according  to  its  own 
nature,  and  meet  its  own  responsibility ;  !>ut  discarding  that 
object,  responsibility  is  violated,  and  condemnation  una- 
voidable. In  other  words,  it  is  as  much  the  nature  of  mind 
to  contemplate,  obey,  and  enjoy  God,  as  it  is  the  nature  of 
the  fig  tree  to  bring  forth  figs ;  or  the  moral  results  pre- 
scribed to  the  human  spirit,  as  naturally  follow  from  its  con- 
stituent principles,  as  it  belongs  to  the  earth  to  bring  forth 
fruit  of  herself  Hence  the  law  is  said  to  be  written  on  our 
hearts  ;  and  the  gentiles  are  described  as  "  doing  by  nature 
the  things  contained  in  the  law.M  And  indeed,  would  it 
not  be  strange  that  the  mind  should  be  called  to  obey  a  law 
which  is  not  coincident  with  its  own  nature,  or  which  it  had 
no  capacities  to  obey  ?  As  well  might  it  be  expected  that 
men  should  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles. 

The  law  itself,  as  it  has  been  summarily  expressed  in 
the  scriptures,  requires  of  the  human  mind  simply  to  do 
and  live.  That  which  must  be  done,  is  the  thing  which, 
as  either  enacted  by  a  wiitten  code  or  inscribed  on  nature, 
is  both  right  and  good,  and  is  perfectly  within  the  reach  of 
the  human  mind.  A  man  cannot  believe  in  him  of  whom 
he  has  not  heard ;  neither  can  he  fulfil  a  duty  which  he 
has  no  opportunity  of  knowing.     This  doing  was  as  much 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  187 

within  the  range  of  Adam's  abilities,  as  believing  is  now 
within  the  reach  of  our  capacity ;  and  he  was  personally 
as  accountable  under  law  which  required  him  to  do,  as  we 
are  under  gospel  which  requires  us  to  believe. — Let  it 
here  be  distinctly  understood  that  I  am  not  speaking  of  the 
paradisiacal  constitution  ;  but  of  the  law  impressed  upon,  or 
incorporated  with,  the  nature  of  every  human  being  : — the 
law  of  spirit  as  spirit,  viewed  in  its  own  individuality, 
and  as  existing  for  a  brief  period  in  this  world. 

It  may  be  both  seasonable  and  instructive  to  call  up  to 
recollection,  that  God  himself,  the  great  pattern  of  imita- 
tion, had  been  doing  also.  He  had  created  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  and  all  their  host.  This  work  which  he 
wrought,  is  both  right  and  good.  So  clearly  was  this  the 
fact,  that  Adam  could  distinctly  perceive  it,  and  make  his 
observations  in  the  most  intelligible  and  unequivocal  man- 
ner. In  other  words — God  did,  in  his  work  of  creation, 
exemplify  the  connexion  between  righteousness  and 
life  ;  or  show  that  the  thing  which  is  right  is  the  thing 
that  is  good.  But  this  righteousness  of  God  did  not  in  any 
way  interfere  with  the  personal  responsibility  of  man,  so 
as  to  cover  any  deficiencies  belonging  to  his  nature,  or  any 
improprieties  of  which  he  might  be  guilty.  It  was  an  ex- 
ample to  illustrate  the  divine  character,  and  explain  the  di- 
vine designs  ;  from  which  man  might  learn  his  personal 
duties,  and  derive  the  necessary  inducements  to  perform 
them.  But  it  was  no  part  of  Jehovah's  intention  to  impute 
this  righteousness,  thus  exhibited  in  his  works,  to  Adam  or 
to  any  of  his  posterity :  it  was  not  a  robe  which  his  hand 
had  wrought  as  a  garment  of  justification — it  served  not 
as  a  final  plea  in  judgment.  The  law  to  man  was,  do  and 
live  :  and  his  obedience  to  this  law  would  present  him 
as  justified  by  his  own  works.  Wherever,  therefore,  a 
doctrine  of  imputation  may  be  scripturally  or  rationally 
argued,  it  cannot  be  sustained  in  any  respect,  as  a  substi- 
tute for  personal  responsibility. 


188  LECTURES  ON 

There  is,  and  necessarily  must  be,  a  limit  to  personal  re- 
sponsibility. Man  is  not  infinite,  and  the  law  of  his  nature 
could  not  be  infinite.  The  law  could  not  transcend  the 
powers  of  his  nature,  nor  be  stretched  beyond  the  sphere 
of  action  in  which  he  was  placed.  Accordingly,  on  the 
one  hand,  I  cannot  accede  to  the  lofty,  yet  undefined,  no- 
tions which  have  been  entertained  of  Adam's  superiority, 
as  though  he  were  something  more  than  human ;  nor,  on  the 
other,  can  I  believe,  that  the  paradisiacal  institute  was  either 
the  only  law  under  which  he  was  placed,  or  an  arbitrary 
statute,  enacted  as  a  solitary  test  of  his  obedience.  For, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  law  of  his  personal  being  was  written 
on  his  heart,  or  incorporated  in  his  nature ;  and  must  be 
obeyed  throughout  the  entire  extent  of  his  agency,  and  in 
reference  to  all  the  relations  belonging  to  the  system  with 
which  he  was  connected.  Whatever  was  the  nature  or  the 
intention  of  the  paradisiacal  law,  that  institute  could  not 
set  aside  the  law  written  on  his  heart;  nor  supersede  its  ob- 
ligation in  those  circumstances  to  which  it  would  naturally 
and  necessarily  apply.  And  those  circumstances  were  nei- 
ther few  nor  unimportant.  For  observe — The  marriage  in- 
stitution was  established,  from  which  the  various  natural 
relations  would  unavoidably  follow  : — 'The  sabbath  day  was 
sanctified,  which  would  seem,  as  being  a  positive  institution, 
to  prelude  a  series  of  religious  ceremonies  as  belonging  to 
the  service  due  to  God ; — The  dominion  over  the  creatures 
was  entrusted  to  Adam's  judgment,  and  they  were  after- 
wards named  and  classed  according  to  his  judgment: — He 
was  put  into  the  garden  "to  dress  and  to  keep  it,"  and  was 
thus  engaged  in  all  the  operations  of  an  active  life ; — gold 
and  precious  stones,  &c.  are  also  enumerated,  along  with 
whatever  was  pleasant  to  the  sight,  or  good  for  food,  or  con- 
tributive  to  the  comforts  and  conveniencies  of  life,  as  items 
in  the  bountiful  provision  his  Creator  had  made.  A  scene 
of  operation  and  a  condition  of  existence,  entirely  like  that 
which  the  world  now  presents,  with  the  exception  that  evil 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  189 

had  not  been  introduced,  is  thus  minutely  described  by  the 
inspired  penman.  Here  then,  we  have  the  sphere  of  man's 
personal  responsibility,  when  he  was  originally  created — the 
parts  as  well  arranged,  and  the  boundaries  as  extensive  as 
those  of  the  corresponding  system  are  at  this  day,  or  have 
been  since  the  fall.  It  is  moreover  abundantly  evident 
that  this  state  of  things,  thus  set  up  at  the  beginning,  was 
to  have  been  perpetuated  until  the  Creator's  intention  of 
framing  it  should  be  answered  ;  while  at  the  same  time  some 
ulterior  purposes  were  distinctly  held  up  to  view. 

It  may  perhaps  be  objected,  that  the  preceding  view  in- 
volves the  possibility  of  the  commission  of  sin  by  Adam  or 
any  of  his  children,  irrespective  of  the  paradisiacal  consti- 
tution ;  and  at  any  point  in  the  whole  range  of  their  per- 
sonal responsibilities.  Reminding  you,  in  the  first  place, 
that  the  preceding  argument  has  been  drawn  from  the  na- 
ture of  the  case,  and  that  the  detail  which  has  been  pre- 
sented is  the  historian's  account  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  I 
readily  admit  the  accuracy  of  the  objection,  and  concede  its 
implication.  What  then  ?  Is  there  any  incongruity  in  the 
concession  ?  Is  any  scriptural  principle  overlooked,  or  put 
at  defiance  ?  Did  not  Adam  sin  when  he  ate  of  the  for- 
bidden fruit?  Did  not  Eve  sin?  and,  as  she-  was  not  our 
social  head,  did  she  not  sin  in  violation  of  personal  respon- 
sibility? Was  she  not  "first"  in  the  transgression?  Did 
her  sin  become  impossible  before  the  social  head  hzd  eaten  ? 
Have  not  angels  sinned  ?  Does  not  God  himself  speak  of 
good  and  evil  in  other  parts  of  his  dominions?— Any  dif- 
ficulty which  may  arise  here,  proceeds  from  the  assumption, 
that  the  existence  of  sin  argues  a  previous  corrupt  nature. 
I  say  assumption — because  neither  Adam,  nor  Eve,  nor  the 
angels,  had  a  previously  corrupt  nature. 

That  such  a  concession  may  be  safely  made,  is  farther 
evident  from  the  nature  of  personal  responsibilit}r  itself. 
This  could  not  be  absorbed  in  any  social  institute.  The 
mediatorial  righteousness  of  the  Son  of  God  himself  has  not 


190  LECTURES  ON 

absorbed  it :  but  he  commands  every  man  to  believe ;  and 
on  a  compliance  or  non-compliance  depends  the  issue.  By 
his  own  nature,  every  man  is  in  a  state  of  personal  proba- 
tion. Good  and  evil  are  placed  before  him.  And  every 
where  throughout  the  scriptures,  his  final  destiny  is  con- 
nected with  his  own  responsibility.  Spiritual  and  eter- 
nal life,  on  the  one  hand,  and  spiritual  and  eternal  death  on 
the  other,  are  respectively  attached  to  the  facts  given  in  an- 
swer to  the  judicial  inquiry,  whether  he  has  done  good  or 
evil?  Who  ever  heard  of  any  man's  being  condemned  at 
the  bar  of  God  for  Adam's  sin?  or  of  any  other  judicial  in- 
quiry, than  that  which  embraces  the  deeds  done  in  the  body, 
and  binds  one  to  answer  for  himself?  Ah!  much  do  I 
fear,  that  multitudes  are  slumbering  on  an  awful  precipice, 
in  relation  to  this  momentous  matter.  Rouse  up,  I  beseech 
you,  and  search  the  scriptures,  that  you  may  ascertain  whe- 
ther you  must  not  be  judged  in  the  great  day  of  retribution 
— each  for  yourself  ? 

It  may  now  be  very  fairly  asked,  what  would  have  been 
the  consequence,  if  Adam  or  any  of  his  posterity  had  sin- 
ned in  violation  of  personal  responsibility  ?  Should  such 
a  transgressor  have  died  ?  To  answer  this  question,  it  must 
first  be  settled,  what  kind  of  death  it  means  ?  If  it  be  tem- 
poral death,  to  which  the  question  refers,  I  unhesitatingly 
answer,  that  thus  the  transgressor  would  not  have  died: 
because  temporal  death  is  uniformly  connected  with  Adam's 
sin.  In  Adam  all  die.  It  is  very  true  that  death  may 
be  inflicted  as  the  penalty  of  a  municipal  statute : — but  that 
occurs  only  because  death  has  been  brought  into  the  world, 
as  the  consequence  of  Adam's  sin.  And  it  is  also  true,  that 
death  was  inflicted  as  the  penalty  of  the  Mosaic  law;  but 
that  resulted  from  its  typical  purposes  and  character.  Nei- 
ther fact  disturbs  our  general  argument,  but  rather  confirms 
it ;  because  the  provisions  established  in  both  cases  were 
purely  political.  However  righteous  any  man  may  become, 
he  cannot  escape  death : — "It  is  appointed  unto  all  men  once 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  191 

to  die."  In  such  a  case,  therefore,  as  the  inquiry  contem- 
plates, personal  responsibility  would  have  left  a  sinner  to 
the  divine  favor  for  pardon  on  the  principle  of  repentance  ; 
or  to  "the  decisions  of  the  day  of  judgment,  when  every 
man  must  give  account  of  himself  to  God. 

Again  it  may  be  asked,  what  would  have  been  the  final 
issue  under  such  circumstances,  if  the  transgressor  had  not 
died  ?  In  what  way  should  he  have  been  brought  into  judg- 
ment ?  These  questions  are  entitled  to  a  distinct  answer, 
whether  the  case  of  transgression  shall  be  admitted  or  de- 
nied. It  could  not  have  been  intended  that  man  should 
live  here  forever,  if  the  paradisiacal  law  had  not  been  viola- 
ted :  and  personal  probation  must  necessarily  lead  to  a  judi- 
cial investigation.  There  were  evidently  two  sides  to  the 
constitution  under  which  mankind  were  placed  ;  and  if  sin 
were  followed  by  penalty,  obedience  must  secure  reward. 
How  then  snail  we  decide  this  interesting  matter  ?  Are 
there  any  scriptural  principles,  unequivocally  set  forth, 
whose  truth  is  indisputable,  and  on  which  we  may  confi- 
dently rely?  I  think  there  are  such  principles  very  distinct- 
ly stated  ;  and  that  they  fully  meet  the  whole  case. 

The  apostle  Paul,  in  his  argument  on  the  resurrection, 
addressed  to  the  Corinthians,  very  explicitly  assures  us,  that 
"flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God."  Now 
Adam  had  this  very  flesh  and  blood  which  cannot  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  God:  so  that  he  could  not  inherit  the  king- 
dom  of  God;  or  he  must,  some  how  or  other,  part  with  flesh 
and  blood. — Again  the  apostle  observes,  "there  is  a  natural 
body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body.  "And  also,"  he  adds, 
it  is  written,  "the  first  man  Adam  was  made  a  living  soul; 
the  last  Adam  was  made  a  quickening  spirit."  The  doc- 
trine of  these  two  kinds  of  bodies,  he  does  himself  apply 
to  the  primordial,  as  well  as  to  the  remedial,  state  of  man  ; 
and  observes,  that  their  order  was — "that  was  not  first  which 
is  spiritual,  but  that  which  is  natural ;  and  afterward  that 
which  is  spiritual."     The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  as 


192  LECTURES  Oft 

connected  with  the  christian  system,  he  argues  on  these 
original  principles.     A  natural  body  is  not  the  mere  off- 
spring of  a  fallen  nature,  but  is  all  that  was  produced  from 
the  ground,  or  that  belonged  to  Adam  before  he  fell-  and 
is  strictly  analogous  with  the  material  system,  of  which  it 
forms  a  part.     On  the  other  hand,  a  spiritual  body  is  not  a 
mere  appendage  of  Christianity,  presented  as  analogous  with 
the  resurrection,  but  was  contemplated  from   the  begin- 
ning ;  for  which  reason  it  is  incorporated  with  Christianity. 
Again,  the  apostle  says,  "we  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we 
shall  all  be  changed;  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye,  at  the  last  trumpet :  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and 
the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be 
changed.''     Temporal  death  is  therefore  not  indispensably 
necessary  to  our  putting  off  the  natural,  and  putting  on  the 
spiritual,  body :  a  change  may  be  accomplished  in  a  moment, 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  ;  of  which  the  facts  that  occur- 
red in  the  history  of  Enoch  and  Elijah  are  bright  and  in- 
teresting examples.     Any  supposed  difficulty  in  the  case 
before  us  is  thus  readily  and  entirely  removed.     So  that 
death  itself  is  neither  so  unique  nor  monstrous  a  matter  as 
it  is  generally  represented  to  be  ;  but  it  is,  according  to  the 
representations  the  apostle  has  made,  analogous  to  an  event 
which  should  have  occurred,  if  Adam  had  not  eaten  the  for- 
bidden fruit;  and  which  should  have  pressed  home  the  per- 
sonal responsibility  of  every  human  mind  with  equal  force. 
Thus,  by  a  change  which  would  have  taken  place,  not  so 
painful  nor  dishonorable  as  temporal  death,  yet  still  by  a 
change  from  a  natural  into  a  spiritual  body,  should  mankind, 
whether.they  had  personally  done  good  or  evil,  have  been 
introduced  to  the  judgment  seat. 

We  have  now  reached  the  paradisiacal  institute.  But 
wishing  to  consider  that  matter  by  itself,  I  shall  postpone  it 
to  the  next  lecture  ;  and  in  the  mean  time  anticipate  our  dis- 
cussion, only  so  far  as  to  take  up  the  following  question:— Was 
Adam  left  to  fulfil  his  various  duties  in  his  own  strength  1 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  193 

This  question,  in  an  age  when  there  is  so  much  contra- 
dictory and  unsatisfying  argument  on  the  subjects  of  di- 
vine power,  and  human  ability  and  inability,  may  perhaps 
serve  to  throw  these  litigated  matters  into  a  novel  shape,  or 
one  which  has  not  been  defaced  by  scholastic  technicalities. 
Let  us  see  what  reply  may  be  obtained  from  the  facts,  as 
they  are  detailed  in  the  scriptures. 

Moses  instructs  us  that  on  the  seventh  day  God  rested 
from  all  his  work.  And  what  did  he  mean  by  God's  rest- 
ing? Paul,  illustrating  the  mediatorial  system  as  an  eccle- 
siastical constitution,  compares  it  with  this  early  frame  of 
moral  government  which  Moses  describes ;  and  remarks — 
"  He  that  is  entered  into  his  rest,  he  also  hath  ceased  from 
his  own  works,  as  God  did  from  his."  An  analogy  is  evi- 
dently intended  to  be  asserted.  In  the  latter  case,  we  learn 
that  Christ,  as  to  his  bodily  presence,  is  now  removed  from 
our  view,  and  that  in  place  thereof  the  Spirit  has  come. 
The  analogy  then  would  be,  that  God,  having  finished  the 
work  of  creation,  entered  into  his  rest;  or,  that  in  personal 
form  he  was  removed  out  of  Adam's  sight,  and  the  spirit 
came. 

It  may  perhaps  be  considered  as  a  breach  upon  this  an- 
alogy, that  Jehovah-ELOHiM,  or  God  in  personal  form,  did 
afterwards  appear  in  the  garden.  But  so  also  the  Redeem- 
er appeared  to  Paul,  when  he  commissioned  him  to  go  to 
the  gentiles.  So  he  appeared  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Ja- 
cob, when  he  would  make  or  renew  his  covenant  with 
them.  So  he  appeared  when  he  came  down  to  the  plains 
of  Shinar,  and  to  Sodom,  to  execute  his  judgment.  A  like 
occasion  had  now  occurred ;  something  out  of  the  course 
of  ordinary  rule  was  to  be  adjudicated ;  and,  viewed  as  the 
facts  alluded  to  are  to  be  estimated,  the  seeming  discrepan- 
cy is  done  away. 

Then  the  Spirit  came,  as  he  comes  now.     We  are  wont 
to  refer  every  issue  to  the  single  agency  of  the  Spirit;  and 
many  feel  warranted  to  wait,  when  they  are  called  to  be- 
Vol.  1—17 


194  LECTURES  ON 

.  lieve  the  gospel,  until  the  Spirit  shall  renew  their  hearts. 
Others,  who  have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious,  are  con- 
tinually representing  the  Spirit's  influence  in  such  a  light, 
that  a  sort  of  irresponsible  state  is  supposed  to  exist,  and 
an  inability  on  the  part  of  man  is  inferred ;  with  all  which 
the  doctrine  of  a  personal  election  and  reprobation  most 
exactly  fits.  They  plead  for  the  use.  of  means,  it  is 
true  ; — but  then  any  one  may  see  that  their  doctrine  of 
divine  power  and  human  inability  renders  the  means  ut- 
terly useless.  Multitudes  of  sinners  thus  excuse  them- 
selves from  believing ;  and  multitudes  feel  themselves  to 
be  in  a  most  fearful  predicament,  while  the  penalty  hangs 
over  them — "  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned  ;"  and 
while  the  scriptures  unequivocally  declare  that  the  sinner 
perishes  by  his  own  fault.  Theologians  cannot  reconcile 
these  contradictory  views,  and  the  cry  of  mystery  will  no 
longer  avail. 

How  stood  the  matter  at  first  ?  Can  we  speak  of  Adam's 
inability,  because  divine  providence  was  then  the  "minis- 
tration of  the  Spirit?"  Do  the  scriptures  report  him  as  indo- 
lently waiting  for  the  Spirit  of  God  ?  Or  do  they  refer  his  fall 
to  any  other  urgency  than  that  exerted  by  the  sinful  emo- 
tions of  his  own  bosom  ?  None  of  these  incongruities  can  be 
affirmed  with  confidence  in  relation  to  him.  And  why 
should  they  be  affirmed  of  man  now  ?  Man,  it  may  be  re- 
plied, is  now  encompassed  with  infirmities.  True.  But 
the  divine  government  has  proportioned  its  operations  to 
his  infirmities.  He  is  not  now  under  law,  but  under  grace. 
And  where  is  the  difference  in  principle  ?  There  is  none. 
It  is  now  as  much  within  the  compass  of  our  ability  to  be- 
lieve, as  it  was  within  the  compass  of  Adam's  ability  to 
obey.  Not  that  there  is  no  divine  power  now,  or  was  no 
divine  power  then.  For  in  both  instances  the  Spirit's 
operations  belong  to  the  divine  government.  The  simple 
fact  is  that,  in  its  present  relations  the  subject  has  been  ob- 
scured and  misrepresented  by  scholatic  subtlety :  while,  in 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  195 

view  of  its  original  connexions,  it  has  been  habitually  over- 
looked ;  and  by  referring  yourselves  to  the  display  of  una- 
dulterated truth  as  at  first  afforded,  you  may  more  quickly 
and  more  accurately  understand  the  interest  which  you 
3rourselves,  and  all  men,  have  in  the  influence  of  the  Spirit 
of  God-  Here,  beneath  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil,  the  ministry  might  lay  down  their  fetters,  and 
go  forth,  untrammelled  and  unabashed,  to  preach  salvation 
by  "  the  Seed  of  the  woman,"  to  all  the  world. 


LECTURE    VII. 


The  Paradisiacal  constitution — An  external  and  political 
dispensation — Not  inconsistent  with  personal  responsi- 
bility—  Tree  of  life — Popular  view  of  Adam's  sin  audits 
consequences — Law  given  to  Adam  compared  with  law 
given  by  Moses — Analogies — Theologians  reason  against 
themselves — Force  of  the  phrase  for  thy  sake. 

If  the  argument  elaborated  in  the  preceding  lecture  be 
accurate  and  conclusive,  and  if  the  historical  details  have 
been  neither  misrepresented  nor  exaggerated,  then  the  pa- 
radisiacal statute  must  not  be  so  interpreted  as  to  destroy 
personal  responsibility.  In  other  words — It  has  been  shown 
that"  personal  responsibility  belongs  to  the  very  nature  of 
man,  or  is  the  necessaiy  accompaniment  of  his  personal 
existence  : — that  each  man  is  accountable  for  himself  and 
for  himself  alone,  at  the  bar  of  God  : — that  no  one  man, 
not  Daniel,  nor  Noah,  nor  Job — and  may  I  not  add — nor 
Adam — can  be  a  substitute  for  any  other  man,  or  deliver 
either  son  or  daughter  by  his  righteousness ;  and  that  where- 
ver a  doctrine  of  imputation  may  be  maintained,  or  of 


196  LECTURES  ON 

whatever  political  compact  it  may  constitute  a  part,  it  can- 
not contravene  this  great  law  of  our  personal  being. 

It  has  also  been  shown,  that  the  spirit  of  man  proceeds 
immediately  from  God  himself,  while  the  body  is  referred 
to  a  secondary,  agency,  belonging  to  the  material  system. 
No  man  can  have  power  over  the  spirit ;  but  each  one, 
according  to  the  instructions  delivered  by  the  Redeemer  to 
his  disciples,  has  it  in  charge  to  live  above  the  fear  of  his 
fellows ;  and  to  direct  his  movements,  under  the  solemn 
consideration  that  God  alone  is  the  arbiter  of  the  immor- 
tal spirit.  Of  course  the  paradisiacal  institute  must  direct 
its  agency  to  that  which  it  can  reach  :  and  cannot  terminate 
in  the  destruction  of  spirit. 

To  this  view  may  be  added  the  fact,  that  the  mediatorial 
system  itself  does  not  destroy,  nor  set  aside,  personal  re- 
sponsibility. On  the  contrary,  that  system  has  been  intro- 
duced, because  "  the  one  offence"  of  Adam,  limited  in  the 
devastation  it  brought  about,  left  in  personal  responsibility 
the  opportunity  for  a  remedial  operation.  Permit  me  to 
illustrate  my  meaning  by  an  analogy. — You  have  entrusted 
your  funds  to  an  agent,  in  whom  you  thought  you  had  just 
cause  to  confide.  He  has  been  unfaithful,  and  squander- 
ed your  means.  You  are  involved  in  consequent  suffering  ; 
but  you  have  contracted  no  guilt.  Personally,  you  have 
not  sinned.  This  is  a  social  transaction  which  every  one 
understands.  No  one  complains  of  its  injustice,  objects  to 
its  philosophy,  or  emblazons  it  as  awful  or  unapproachable, 
on  account  of  its  mystery.  Every  one  perceives,  that 
while  personal  responsibility  results  from  personal  exist- 
ence, so  social  responsibility  results  from  social  existence. 
Each  is  necessary,  justifiable,  and  philosophical  in  its  own 
connexions. 

But  in  the  case  contemplated,  another  question  arises. 
The  infidelity  of  your  agent  and  the  consequent  suffering 
in  which  you  are  involved,  lead  to  the  inquiry,  whether 
you  can  meet  your  own  personal  obligations  ?  Your  charac- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT  197 

ter  is  unhurt,  but  what  are  your  mea?is?  If  your  means  are 
wasted,  your  creditors  must  then  look  to  }'our  personal  cha- 
racter ;  and  their  future  conduct  must  be  regulated*  not  by 
pressing  the  principle  of  social  responsibility,  with  a  sort 
of  Shylock  pertinacity  and  cruelty ;  but  as  one  system  has 
been  brought  to  its  extremity,  the  remedy  must  be  sought 
for  in  a  higher  system ;  and  all  future  operations  must  be 
framed  in  coincidence  with  the  remedial  principle  thus 
derived.  Such  a  course  would  be  as  wise  as  it  is  humane. 
So  in  the  case  before  us.  The  one  offence  of  Adam  has 
pushed  the  system  of  social  responsibility  to  its  extremity  : 
the  remedial  principle  must  be  sought  for  in  the  higher 
system  of  personal  responsibility.  Evidently  we  are  in- 
volved by  Adam's  sin  in  suffering ;  and  as  evidently  we 
have  no  means  of  meeting  our  personal  obligations  or  of 
obeying  law  ;  but  as  clearly  our  personal  character  has 
not  been  forfeited.  The  fact  that  we  were  not  then  born,  ren- 
ders the  idea  of  the  forfeiture  of  personal  character  per- 
fectly unreasonable  and  absurd.  And  when  a  philosophic 
theologian  undertakes  to  maintain  that  idea,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  he  is  lost  in  mystery,  and  is  unable  to  defend  his  sys- 
tem by  scripture,  by  analogy,  or  otherwise,  to  the  common 
sense  of  mankind. 

I  have  said,  that  the  limited  effect  of  the  paradisiacal  in- 
stitute afforded  the  opportunity  for  the  introduction  of  the 
mediatorial  system.  The  preceding  analogy  was  intended 
to  illustrate  that  position,  by  evincing  that,  in  personal  re- 
sponsibility while  unviolated,  the  remedial  principle  must 
necessarily  be  sought.  If  a  remedial  principle  could  not 
be  thence  derived,  it  could  come  from  no  other  source — 
as  appears  from  the  two  following  scriptural  considerations. 

1.  Speaking  on  the  subject  of  the  resurrection,  the  Re- 
deemer informs  us,  that  "in  the  resurrection  they  neither 
marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage."  Of  course  all  the 
other  natural  relations  will  be  done  away ;  and  our  social 
existence,  whatever  may  be  the  form  under  which  it  shall 
17* 


!98  LECTURES  OK 

be  maintained,  shall  not  be  regulated  by  those  principles 
which  are  essentially  characteristic  of  it  here.  But  further 
the  Redeemer  adds,  that  they  who  rise  shall  be  "like  the 
angels  of  God."  The  angels  are  not  bound  together  by 
social  ties,  analogous  to  those  which  subsist  among  men 
upon  earth.  Their  condition  in  their  own  sphere  of  action, 
and  our  condition  in  the  flesh  differ — in  what  ?  Certainly 
in  this,  that  social  responsibility  is  not  found  among  them, 
as  it  has  been  established  among  Adam's  race.  When, 
therefore,  angels  sinned,  they  sinned  on  their  personal  re- 
sponsibility. Amid  the  varieties  of  creation,  and  while 
this  difference  has  been  stated,  it  would  appear  that  the  his- 
tory  of  these  intelligences  has  been  given  to  us,  on  purpose 
to  show  the  results  of  personal  responsibility. 

If  Adam  had  not  sinned,  that  purpose  would  have  been 
highly  important.  His  fidelity  would  have  afforded  an  ex- 
hibition of  the  connexion  between  righteousness  and  life  ; 
and  his  posterity  would  have  been  thrown  on  their  personal 
responsibility,  in  view  of  their  ultimate  destiny.  The  his- 
tory of  fallen  angels  would,  in  that  case,  have  afforded  an 
appropriate  exhibition  of  the  connexion  between  personal 
sin  and  spiritual  death.  I  say  an  appropriate  exhibition, 
because,  while  it  would  illustrate  the  issues  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility, the  human  being,  free  from  the  infirmities  that 
now  encompass  him,  would  have  been  fully  able  to  have 
estimated  it.  If  now  our  intellectual  vision  does  not  reach 
so  far  as  distinctly  to  embrace  so  lofty  and  so  luminous  a 
demonstration,  the  reason  is — we  are  fallen.  Our  indis- 
tinctness of  view  on  the  general  subject  is  a  proof  of  our 
fall ;  but  argues  no  more  against  angelic  agency,  than  death- 
proves  that  it  was  not  originally  intended  that  we  should  be 
immortal.  Our  infirmity  in  the  flesh  no  more  militates 
against  the  existence  and  agency  of  these  spiritual  intelli- 
gences, than  the  fact,  that  we  cannot  see  God  and  live, 
proves  that  there  is  no  God  ;  or  that  he  did  not  originally 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  199 

manifest  himself  in  "the  form  of  God,"  which  is  too  glorious 
for  us  now  to  behold. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  our  political  relations  are  different, 
the  Adamic  constitution  developes  the  issue  of  social  respon- 
sibility. No  Mediator  has  been  provided  for  the  one  ;  while 
for  the  other  a  Mediator  has  appeared.  Why  is  this  ?  It  is 
a  sovereign  act,  it  may  be  said.  But  why  refer  an  act  to 
sovereignty,  when  a  reason  good  and  sufficient  is  at  hand  ? 
And  is  not  that  reason  at  hand  in  the  present  case,  when 
the  fact  is  so  plain  and  distinct,  that  there  is  a  whole  race 
of  intelligent  beings  who  had  not  personally  sinned,  but 
who  were  involved  in  disaster  and  sorrow  by  the  fault  of 
another?  Does  not  the  justice  of  the  case,  does  not  the 
goodness  of  God,  point  to  the  reason  ?  But 

2.  Adam's  children,  in  consequence  of  the  righteousness 
of  the  Mediator,  are  nowT  so  far  extricated  from  the  embar- 
rassment in  which  they  were  involved  by  Adam's  sin,  as  to 
be  fairly  and  consistently  put  on  their  personal  responsibili- 
ty. As  b}T  the  offence  of  Adam  they  became  sinners,  so 
by  the  righteousness  of  Christ  they  have  become  righteous; 
and  as  by  the  offence  of  Adam  they  have  been  brought  in- 
to condemnation,  so  by  the  righteousness  of  Christ  they  are 
now  in  a  state  of  justification.  If  now  they  despise  the 
rule  of  faith,  under  obligation  to  which,  and  on  their  per- 
sonal responsibility,  they  are  placed,  "there  remaineth  no 
more  sacrifice  for  sins ;  but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of 
judgment  and  fiery  indignation,  which  shall  devour  the  ad- 
versaries." The  issue  of  personal  responsibility  is  the  same 
in  both  cases.  So  that  in  the  limited  effect  which  I  have 
ascribed  to  the  Adamic  institute,  arises  the  opportunity  for 
a  remedial  dispensation.  If  personal  responsibility  had 
been  violated,  and  the  sentence  of  the  law  in  this  con- 
nexion had  been  passed,  the  above  scriptural  facts  evince 
that  a  Mediator  could  not  have  been  provided.  If  any 
then  have  been  apprehensive,  that  the  present  argument  is 
likely  to  issue,  either  in  a  "  socinianised"   corruption,  or 


200  [LECTURES  ON 

infidel  rejection,  of  the  mediatorial  principle,  they  may 
perhaps  be  satisfied  by  the  preceding  observations,  that  this 
principle  is  introduced  by  the  very  door  which  our  argu- 
ment throws  open:  and  furthermore,  they  may,  peradven- 
ture,  perceive,  that  the  popular  representation  on  this  sub- 
ject shuts  out  that  principle.  Hence  it  is,  that  theologians 
so  often  resort  to  sovereignty  in  their  various  lucubrations  ; 
for  they  can  have  no  other  reason,  when  personal  respon- 
sibility is  so  unceremoniously,  yet  inconsiderately,  fore- 
closed. 

I  consider  the  paradisiacal  constitution  to  have  been  noth- 
ing more  than  a  political  or  external  dispensation,  like  the 
Mosaic  law,  by  which  in  fact  it  was  afterwards  illustrated. 
Its  sanctions  were  temporal  in  their  character.  It  promis- 
ed temporal  reward;  it  threatened  temporal  penalty.  It 
grew  out  of  the  social  relations  which  had  been  created, 
and  could  not  go  beyond  them,  as  they  formed  a  part  of 
the  general  system  which  God  had  set  up.  And  the  ob- 
ject was  to  display,  under  a  visible  or  symbolic  form,  the 
connexion  between  righteousness  and  life  :  just  as  God  had 
displayed  the  same  general  principle  in  creation  itself;  as 
every  man  must  do  in  all  his  actions,  and  in  every  relation 
in  which  he  stands ;  and  as  in  fact  is  done,  by  contrast,  in 
the  various  consequences  of  Adam's  offence.  The  con- 
nexion between  sin  and  death  is  now,  not  only  written  in 
the  bible,  but  it  is  inscribed  on  the  material  system  and  in- 
corporated in  the  animal  nature  of  man  himself.  Such  is 
the  doctrine  which  I  would  advance  on  this  subject ;  which 
results,  as  I  think,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  ;  and 
which,  as  I  believe,  the  scriptures  will  most  plainly  and  lu- 
cidly exhibit. 

Before,  however,  I  proceed  directly  to  the  argument,  by 
which  I  expect  to  establish  the  doctrine  advanced,  there  is 
one  circumstance  belonging  to  the  general  subject  which 
requires  particular  attention.  It  is  generally  supposed — 
and  no  wonder,  for  our  translators  so  represent  the  fact-—- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  -201 

that  there  was  a  symbolic  tree  of  life,  placed  in  the  midst  of 
the  garden  ;  and  for  a  purpose  analogous  to  that  for  which 
the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  was  similarly 
situated ; — a  kind  of  sacramental  pledge  of  life,  as  the  other 
was  a  sacrament al  pledge  of  death.  If  so,  then  the  tree  of 
life  must  have  been  an  appendage  to  the  paradisiacal  con- 
stitution; and  must  necessarily  be  found  there,  in  connex- 
ion with  its  sacramental  companion.  But  how  does  the 
document  read? — "  And  the  Lord  God"  it  is  written  "com- 
manded the  man,  saying,  of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou 
mayest  freely  eat :  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  for  in  the  day  thou  eat- 
est  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die."  Here  you  perceive  is  a 
distinct  reference  to  the  one  tree,  while  its  character  is  care- 
fully discriminated ;  and  yet  not  one  word  about  a  particu- 
lar tree  of  life.  Nay  more— Adam  receives  express  and 
unrestrained  permission  to  eat  of  every  other  tree  of  the  gar- 
den, and  nothing  still  is  said  about  a  particular  tree  of  life. 
Still  farther. — Eve  gives  to  Satan  a  distinct  and  minute  ac- 
count of  the  circumstances  under  which  God  had  placed 
her  partner  and  herself,  and  speaks  of  the  tree  in  the  midst 
of  the  garden  as  the  very  one  of  which  they  were  not  per- 
mitted to  eat;  but  says  nothing  of  a  tree  of  life.  Now  if 
there  was  any  distinct  tree  of  life  planted  in  the  midst  of 
the  garden,  and  made  symbolic  of  life,  these  omissions  are 
wholly  unaccountable.  And  thus,  it  would  seem  that  one 
of  the  most  prominent  and  favorite  points  of  allusion,  which 
they  might  and  do  make,  who  suppose  that  eternal  life  was 
promised  in  the  covenant,  is  rendered  very  equivocal  in  the 
outset. 

There  are  but  one  or  two  considerations,  which  can  at 

all  be  urged  in  favor  of  the  prevalent  notion,  that  there  was 

a  particular  tree  of  life.     The  first  is  derived  from  the  se- 

:ond  chapter,  and  from  the  account  which  Moses  gives  of 

;he  planting  of  the  garden.     He  says — "and   out  of  the 

•ound  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  every  tree  that  is  plea- 


20-2  LECTURES  ON 

sant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food ;  the  tree  of  life  also  in 
the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil."*  This  seems  to  be  as  strong  proof  as  could  be 
desired  in  support  of  any  proposition  ;  for  it  is  nothing  short 
of  direct  and  positive  assertion.  Yet  our  surprise,  instead 
of  being  abated,  must  only  be  increased,  when  we  recol- 
lect that  there  is  not  one  word  about  such  a  tree  in  the  par- 
adisiacal constitution  itself.  And  any  hebraist  will  tell  you, 
that  the  language,  in  which  the  historian  wrote,  has  but  few 
adjectives:  and  that  in  a  case  where  an  adjective  is  not  at 
hand  to  complete  a  description  like  that  under  considera- 
tion, the  noun  would  be  repeated.  Calling  in  this  philolo- 
gical peculiarity  to  our  aid,  and  translating  the  passage  ac- 
cordingly, Moses  would  then  make  the  following  statement : 
—  "And  out  of  the  ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow 
every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food, 
and  a  tree  of  life ;  and  also,  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil."  The  phrase  tree  of 
life  would  be  equivalent  to — tending,  or  conducive  to  life : 
— every  tree  pleasant  to  the  sight,  good  for  food,  and  con- 
ducive to  life,  the  Lord  God  made  to  grow  out  of  the  ground. 
The  same  form  of  speech  is  used  in  the  first  chapter — uthe 
tree  of  fruit  bearing  fruit  after  his  kind."  Such  a  transla- 
tion removes  all  discrepancy,  and  corresponds  with  the  ac- 
tual fact;  for  all  the  trees  which  were  given  for  food,  were 
really  trees  of  life. 

Another  plea  may  be  set  up  in  favor  of  the  popular  no- 
tion, and  which  would  be  derived  from  the  third  chapter; 
where  God  assigns  the  reason  why  man  was  put  out  of  the 
garden: — "Lest,"  said  he,  '"he  put  forth  his  hand  and  take 
also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  forever  y  But  all 
the  trees  were  trees  of  life;  and  the  word  may  be,  and 
ought  to  be,  so  rendered  here;  unless  it  can  be  shown  that 
there  was  one  particular  tree,  specially  denominated  the 
tree  of  life.     That  the  term  is  in  the  singular  number,  ar- 

*  Verse  9. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  203 

gues  nothing  against  our  position  ;  because  the  fact  is  the 
same  in  the  second  and  eighth  verses  of  the  same  chapter, 
where  our  translators  themselves  have  rendered  the  word 
as  plural. — Neither  can  any  thing  be  obtained  in  favor  of 
the  common  notion  on  this  subject,  from  the  circumstance, 
that  it  would  seem  from  the  phraseology,  that  if  Adam,  af- 
ter his  sin,  had  eaten  of  the  trees  of  life,  he  would  have 
lived  forever;  because  the  term  rendered  forever,  is  appli- 
ed to  any  period  whose  termination  is  concealed  from  view. 
For  this  reason  it  is  applied  to  express  eternity :  for  the  same 
reason  it  is  used  in  reference  to  the  period  of  a  man's  natu- 
ral life ;  as  also  when  a  prospective  view  was  taken  of  the 
Jewish  dispensation,  by  Moses  himself.*  And  to  make  it 
apply  to  eternity  here,  without  assigning  sufficient  reasons 
for  so  doing,  is  to  beg  the  question. 

In  truth  there  was  no  necessity  for  such  a  symbolic  tree, 
inasmuch  as  all  the  trees  were  trees  of  life ;  nor  can  the 
shadow  of  a  reason  be  offered,  as  furnished  by  the  constitu- 
tion itself,  why  any  such  symbol  should  have  been  set  apart. 
This  will  further  appear  when  we  come  to  consider  the  pre- 
cise use  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 

But  let  us  turn  to  the  constitution  itself  And,  that  no 
mistake  may  be  committed,  I  shall  state  the  doctrine,  as  it 
has  been  held  on  this  subject,  in  the  language  of  another, 
whose  ability  and  accuracy,  in  such  a  case,  will  not  be 
doubted. — :"The  death,"  says  Dr.  Edwards,  "which  was  to 
come  on  Adam,  as  the  punishment  of  his  disobedience,  was 
opposed  to  that  life,  which  he  would  have  had  as  the  re- 
ward of  his  obedience  in  case  he  had  not  sinned.  Obedience 
and  disobedience  are  contraries :  and  the  threatenings  and 
promises,  that  are  sanctions  of  a  law,  are  set  in  direct  oppo- 
sition; and  the  promised  rewards  and  threatened  punishments, 
are  what  are  most  properly  taken  as  each  other's  opposites. 
But  none  will  deny,  that  the  life  which  would  have  been 
Adam's  reward,  if  he  had  persisted  in  obedience,  was  eter- 

*  See  Exod.  xik  14^  xxi.  6. — 1  Sam.  i.  22.  See  Kennicott*s  dis- 
sertation on  the  tree  of  life. 


•204  LECTURES  ON 

nal  life.  And  therefore  we  argue  justly,  that  the  death 
which  stands  opposed  to  that  life  is  manifestly  eternal 
death,  a  death  widely  different  from  the  death  we  now  die." 
"If  Adam,  for  his  persevering  obedience,  was  to  have  had 
everlasting  life  and  happiness,  in  perfect  holiness,  union 
with  his  maker,  and  enjoyment  of  his  favor,  and  this  was  the 
life  which  was  to  be  confirmed  by  the  tree  of  life ;  then 
doubtless  the  death  threatened  in  case  of  disobedience, 
which  stands  in  direct  opposition  to  this.,  was  a  being  given 
over  to  everlasting  wickedness  and  misery,  in  separation 
from  God,  and  in  enduring  his  wrath."* 

This  venerable  and  highly  esteemed  author,  whom  many 
seem  disposed  to  place  along  side  of  Calvin  and  Augustin, 
indubitably  asserts  in  the  foregoing  paragraph,  that  on  the 
one  hand,  life,  temporal,  spiritual,  and  eternal,  would  have 
been  the  reward  of  Adam's  obedience  to  the  paradisiacal 
statute;  and  on  the  other,  that  death,  temporal,  spiritual  and 
eternal,  has  been  the  punishment  of  his  disobedience  to  that  stat- 
ute. This  doctrine,  I  understand  to  have  been  generally  re- 
ceived, as  a  true  exposition  of  these  early  transactions.  That 
it  has  been  denied  at  times,  I  will  readily  admit ;  but  then 
the  denial  appears  to  have  been,  for  the  most  part,  if  not  uni- 
formly, connected  with  the  rejection  of  some  other  matters  of 
vital  importance.  I  suppose  that  the  doctrine  in  view  has 
been  strenuously  maintained,  because  it  has  been  conceiv- 
ed that  those  other  important  matters  necessarily  depend 
upon  it.  Yet  it  appears  to  me,  that  while  many  hold  those 
other  matters  as  demonstrably  true,  this  doctrine  they  feel 
to  be  contrary  to  their  own  common  sense.  They  therefore 
would  not  controvert  it,  equivocal  as  they  may  think  it,  be- 
ing afraid  of  the  consequences  which  they  imagine  must 
necessarily  result.  I  am  sure  that  such  has  been  the  con- 
dition of  my  own  mind  ;  but  now,  not  fearing  the  supposed 
consequences,  because,  I  do  not  think  that  they  would  oc- 
cur, I  unhesitatingly  deny  the  doctrine  which  our  author 
has  advanced. 

*  Edwards  on  Original  Sin. — Part.  II.  ch.  i.  sec.  2. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  205 

Yet  if  we  grant  unto  this  writer  his  premises,  his  conclu- 
sion must  irrefragably  follow  :  i.  e.  if  life,  temporal,  spirit- 
ual and  eternal,  was  the  reward  of  obedience  to  the  Adamic 
law,  death,  temporal,  spiritual  and  eternal,  must  have  been 
the  punishment  of  its  transgression.  How  does  he  prove  his 
premises  ?  His  remark  is,  "  none  will  deny  that  the  reward 
was  eternal life."  But  suppose  that  some  one  should  deny  that 
the  reward  was  eternal  life — what  then  ?  Very  possibly  he 
might  be  set  down  as  insane  :  so  universally  have  theolo- 
gians and  sceptics  taken  this  exposition  of  the  brief  record 
for  granted.  It  is,  however,  no  new  thing  that  one  half  of 
the  world  should  think  the  other  half  to  be  crazy :  or  that, 
-in  the  religious  controversies  which  men  conduct  with  so 
much  confidence,  and  while  they  have  forgotten  the  scrip- 
tural injunction  to  "  speak  the  truth  in  love,"  they  should 
resort  to  the  use  of  such  epithets.  The  Redeemer  was 
thought  to  be  beside  himself,  and  Paul  was  reproached  with 
madness. — But  suppose  that  some  one  should  deny  our  au- 
thor's position.  You  see  he  assumes  it :  and  from  mere  as- 
sumption draws  his  conclusion.  His  assumption,  though  it 
may  seem  to  be  adventurous,  I  deny.  Then  it  will  follow,  by 
his  own  argument  that,  if  life,  temporal,  spiritual  and  eter- 
nal, was  not  the  reward  of  obedience;  death,  temporal, 
spiritual  and  eternal,  cannot  be  the  punishment  of  disobe- 
dience. 

It  has  already  been  abundantly  evinced,  that  there  was 
no  one  particular  tree  symbolical  of  life  ;  and  that  all  the 
trees  of  the  garden  were  conducive  to  life.  It  deserves 
now  to  be  further  remarked,  that  even  life  itself  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  constitution.  And  if  so  important  a  re- 
sult as  eternal  life,  involving  the  destiny  of  the  immortal 

spirit,  should  be  depending,  its  it  not  singular  that  not  one 
word  should  be  said  about  it  in  the  institute,  in  execution 
of  which  it  should  occur  ?  How  can  this  be  ?  Is  there  not 
room  to  suspect  some  mistake,  or  to  demand  an  explanation  ? 
But  perhaps  it  might  be  answered,  that  the  promise  of  life 
Vol.  I.— 18 


206  LECTURES  ON 

was  implied.  How  can  this  be  made  to  appear  ?  On  the  sup- 
position that  Adam  had  obeyed  the  law,  and  did  not  die, 
the  terms  employed  would  be  fully  complied  with  ;  for  the 
threatening  should  be  neither  incurred  nor  executed.  Any 
thing  farther  must  be  expressed.  If  nothing  farther  is  ex- 
pressed, we  have  reached  the  limitation  of  the  statute.  But 
it  may  perhaps  be  rejoined,  that  if  man  did  not  die,  he 
must  live  forever.  The  paradisiacal  constitution  does  not 
say  so.  How  can  it  be  otherwise  you  may  ask?  Why, 
when  we  have  reached  the  extremity  of  one  rectoral  prin- 
ciple, we  must  refer  to  another.  So  here  :  when  social 
responsibility  runs  out,  we  must  refer  to  personal  responsi- 
bility, and  ascertain  its  issues  ;  or  we  shall  be  involved  in  a 
difficulty  from  which  there  is  no  avenue  of  escape.  Now 
we  have  seen  that  if  Adam  had  obeyed  the  law,  each  hu- 
man being  would  have  been  put  on  his  own  personal  obli- 
gations :  and  a  change  from  a  natural  into  a  spiritual  body 
being  contemplated  in  the  general  system,  each  one  should 
have  rendered  an  account  for  himself — and  in  this  con- 
nexion alone  is  eternal  life  to  be  obtained.  From  the  na- 
ture of  the  case,  therefore,  eternal  life  could  not  have  been 
the  reward  of  Adam's  obedience  to  the  law  he  received  in 
the  garden :  and  an  assurance,  that  he  should  not  die  tem- 
porally, is  all  that  could  be  implied.  If  eternal  life  was 
not,  and  could  not  be,  the  reward  of  his  obedience  ;  why, 
agreeably  to  the  argument  which  has  been  quoted,  eternal 
death  could  not  be  the  penalty  due  to  his  disobedience. 

On  the  supposition  that  life  had  been  promised  in  the 
covenant,  as  it  has  been  called,  and  that  a  symbolical  tree 
of  life  had  been  planted  in  the  garden,  yet  the  argument 
we  are  considering  would  fare  no  better.  For  while  personal 
responsibility  remained  behind,  eternal  life  and  eternal 
death  would  still  be  associated  with  it;  and  the  political  dis- 
pensation which  clothed  Adam  with  his  official  character, 
could  not  have  appropriated  the  sanctions  which  belonged 
to  another  system.     The  term  life  then,  had  it  been  ex- 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  ->0T 

pressed,  could  have  imported  nothing  more  than  temporal 
Life,  and  the  tree  could  have  symbolized  nothing  else.  Nay, 
if  the  hebrew  word,  rendered  in  the  next  chapter,  forever, 
had  been  appended,  nothing  further  could  have  been  de- 
signed ;  because  that  term,  signifying  any  period  whose  ter- 
mination is  concealed,  may  be,  and  often  is,  applied  to  a 
man's  natural  life,  as  well  as  to  eternity.  In  no  way  can 
the  doctrine  under  consideration  be  inferred  from  the  terms 
of  the  constitution  itself; — either  as  to  their  direct  or  im- 
plied assertions.  On  the  contrary,  that  doctrine  cuts  up  by 
the  roots  every  interest  that  belongs  to  the  subject  of  per- 
sonal accountability  ;  and  presents  to  view  a  judicial  policy 
which  is  in  everyway,  and  in  the  highest  degree,  repug- 
nant to  justice.  It  is  no  matter  of  wonder  that  the  veil 
of  mystery  has  been  thrown  over  the  whole  affair ;  and  that 
men,  professing  Christianity,  walk  in  darkness,  and  live  in 
doubts  all  their  days. 

The  aTgument  in  favor  of  this  doctrine  cannot  be  derived 
from  God's  interpretation  of  his  own  institute,  when  he 
comes  to  execute' its  sentence.  He  utters  not  one  word 
about  spiritual  or  eternal  death,  in  his  address  to  Adam. 
The  whole  process  terminates  on  man's  animal  body,  and 
the  material  system  of  which  that  body  forms  a  part.  I 
know  it  may  be,  and  has  been  said,  that  the  sentence  exe- 
cuted was  not  of  "equal  extent"  with  the  evil  threatened; 
and  that  that  apparent  inconsistency  is  to  be  accounted  for 
by  '-the  intimations  of  mercy"  which  had  just  been  given. 
Nothing  is  more  easy  than  to  make  assertions.  Where  is 
the  proof  of  such  a  strange  commentary  ?  The  tree  plant- 
ed in  the  garden  was  symbolical  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil,  as  the  original  terms  describing  its  objects  dis- 
tinctly specify.  Did  the  execution  of  the  sentence  fail  in 
this  respect  ?  The  threatening  was,  "  in  the  day  thou  eat- 
est  thereof,  dying,  thou  shalt  die;"  and  the  execution  of 
that  threatening  was — "dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  thou 
shalt  return."     Where  is  the   difference?    There  is  none. 


208  LECTURES  ON 

No  eye  can  see,  no  mind  can  perceive  any.  But  it  is  very 
apparent  that  spiritual  and  eternal  death  cannot  be  predi- 
cated of  the  last ;  and  therefore  it  is  said  not  to  be  of  equal 
extent  with  the  first,  in  which  spiritual  and  eternal  death 
is  supposed  to  be  implied.  And  what  is  still  more  strange . 
while  the  sentence  executed  is  asserted  not  to  be  equal  in 
extent  with  the  evil  threatened,  yet,  theologians  will  have 
it  that  all  mankind  are  spiritually  dead  in  Adam.  The  evil 
then  has  actually  come  on  mankind,  far  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  sentence,  as  declared  to  be  executed ;  and  that,  not- 
withstanding the  "  intimations  of  mercy"  which  had  just 
been  given.  In  other  words — All  that  God  professedly 
visits  upon  man  for  this  one  offence  is,  in  so  many  words, 
declared  to  be  temporal  death ;  and  yet  theologians  have 
solemnly  and  unreservedly  proclaimed  it  to  be  spiritual 
death. — u.  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return" — 
what  intelligent  or  candid  mind  can,  or  would,  by  any  tor- 
tuous course  of  reasoning,  turn  such  language  into  a  de- 
scription of  spiritual  death  ? 

If  then,  from  the  very  fact  itself,  as  it  is  told  in  language 
so  plain  and  simple,  spiritual  death,  even  though  it  had 
been  intended  in  the  original  sentence,  is  not  executed  upon 
man,  is  it  not  abundantly  evident,  that  amid  the  wreck  which 
Adam's  sin  produced,  the  spirit  is  unhurt?  and  th^t per- 
sonal responsibility  is  the  very  resource  to  which  the  medi- 
atorial system  refers  ?  So  we  have  again  reached  this 
same  conclusion,  by  simply  exhibiting  scriptural  facts. 

The  deficiency  of  argument  thus  drawn  from  the  original 
facts,  is  variously  supplied  by  quotations  of  scriptural  texts, 
that  are  derived  from  the  old  testament,  and  belong  to  the 
Mosaic  economy,  which  was  itself  the  administration  of 
law  ;  or  from  the  new  testament,  which  exhibits  the  finished 
work  of  the  Redeemer,  and  by  which  all  are  made  right- 
eous, and  are  brought  into  a  justification  of  life  ;  so  that 
this  latter  class  of  texts  is  connected  with  the  results  of 
personal  responsibility.  For  example — I  should  be  far  from 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  211 

death  reigned  from  Adam  to  Moses."     These  points  are 
here  stated : — There  was  a  period  when  there  was  no  law  : 
— during  that  period  sin  could  not  be  imputed ;  because, 
where  law  is  not  there  is  no  transgression :  but  notwith- 
standing this,  all  the  way  down  from  Adam  to  Moses,  death. 
which  comes  by  sin,  reigned,  even  over  them  who  had  not 
sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression.     Ad- 
am's transgression  was  committed  against  law  /  sin  like 
his  transgression  must  be  sin  against  law  ;  so  that  death 
reigned  over  them  to  whom  sin  could  not  be  imputed,  be- 
cause it  reigned,  over  them  who  were  not  under  law.     If 
there  was  a  period  when  law  was  not,  then  they  who  lived 
during  that  period  could  not  sin  like  Adam.     According- 
ly Paul  had  said,  sin  is  not  imputed  where  there  is  no  law ; 
and  yet  adds,  until  the  law  sin  was  in  the  world :  and 
again,  that  death  reigned  from  Adam  down  to  Moses,  even 
over  them  that  had  not,  like  Adam,  transgressed  law.     The 
plain  meaning  of  all  this  is— that  wherever  you  find  death, 
it  is  the  consequence  of  sin  :  now  from  Adam  to  Moses  you 
do  find  death  ;  but  during  all  that  period  you  do  not  find  law, 
and  therefore  cannot  .find  sin  :  how  then  is  death  thus  reign- 
ing to  be  accounted  for  ?     Why  plainly  by  a  reference  to 
Adam's  sin — all  men  are  sinners  by  Adam's  one  offence: 
— by  him  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and 
so  death  passed  Upon  all  men,  because  that  in  him  they 
have  all  sinned.     It  follows,  that  they,  on  whom  death  has 
come  by  his  offence  and  not  by  their  own,  are  the  very  ones 
who  did  not  sin  like  Adam;  had  they  sinned  like  Adam, 
death  would  have  come  by  their  own  offence. 

Again.  The  reason  why  death  did  not  come  by  their 
own  offence  was  simply  this,  that  they  were  not  under  law. 
Now  though  there  is  a  sense  in  which  such  a  state  may  be 
predicated  of  infants  and  idiots — to  whom  the  passage  has 
been  applied — yet  no  reason  can  be  assigned  why  the  apos- 
tle should  single  out  the  infants  and  idiots  who  lived  be- 
tween the  time  of  Adam  and  Moses.      And  moreover,  if 


-21  >  LECTURES  ON 

during  that  period  there  were  any  others  who  were  not  un- 
der law,  the  reference  must  necessarily  include  them.  Now 
in  the  very  outset  of  his  argument,  the  apostle  had  declar- 
ed that  the  gentiles  were  not  under  law ;  but  that  the  jews 
were.  It  follows  that  the  gentiles  did  not  sin  like  Adam; — 
yet  death  did  reign  over  them.  Moreover,  the  jews  them- 
selves were  not  under  law  till  Moses  came ;  and  yet  death 
reigned  over  them.  Hence  the  apparently  singular  remark 
which  Paul,  judging  from  the  difficulties  of  commentators, 
so  indistinctly  makes — "  I  was  alive  without  the  law  once, 
but,  when  the  commandment  came,  sin  revived  and  I  died." 
The  doctrine  of  the  apostle  is  the  same  taught  by  the  pro- 
phets, viz.— that  the  jews  under  the  Mosaic  law  did  sin 
like  Adam.  Then  the  two  dispensations,  the  law  under 
which  the  jews  were  placed,  and  the  paradisiacal  statute, 
were  the  same  in  character : — both  of  them  had  temporal 
sanctions. 

But  farther,  the  apostle  in  this  very  argument  informs 
us  that  there  were  "many  offences,''  or  that  the  offence  had 
abounded:  i.  e.  while  there  were  some  who,  not  being  un- 
der law,  did  not,  and  could  not,  sin  Me  Adam;  there  were 
others,  who,  being  under  law,  did  sin  like  him.  Hence  he 
remarks — "  The  law  entered,  so  that  the  offence  hath 
abounded''' — "the  commandment  came  and  sin  revived." 
This  is  merely  the  opposite  side  of  his  argument.  The  facts 
are,  that  the  law  entered,  or  was  given  by  Moses.  If  law 
was  introduced,  sin  might  be  imputed,  or  the  offence  might 
abound.  Accordingly  such  has  been  the  fact;  and  the  Mo- 
saic law  proved  itself  to  be  the  ministration  of  death  and 
condemnation.  So  then  the  jews  did  sin  like  Adam,  and 
like  him  were  brought  into  death.  Accordingly  there  was 
a  necessity  that  the  righteousness  of  the  Redeemer  should 
go  beyond  the  -'one  offence,"  and  cover  these  "many  of- 
fences" of  the  jews.  This  was  done,  and  he  is,  by  means 
of  death,  the  Mediator  for  the  redemption  of  transgressions 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  -209 

denying,  or  even  doubting,  that  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death, 
and  that  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."  But  any  one  can  see,  that  all  these  judicial 
results  meet  a  man  on  his  own  personal  accountability  : — 
For  "  he  that  belie veth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath  everlasting 
life  ;  and  he  that  belie  veth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life, 
but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  Such  disjointed 
extracts  taken,  not  only  out  of  the  local  connexions  in 
which  they  are  found,  but,  from  the  system  to  which  they 
belong,  are  poor  adjuvants  of  the  cause  they  are  employed 
to  uphold.  They  all  work  in  the  opposite  direction  ;  and 
serve  to  evince  that,  under  the  mediatorial  system,  God  is 
dealing  with  man  as  an  intelligent  and  responsible  being, 
put  on  his  personal  obligations,  and  called  to  answer  for 
himself. 

I  have  had  frequent  occasion  to  refer  to  the  Mosaic  in- 
stitute as  being  an  administration  of  law.  God  introduced 
it  as  the  lawgiver.  Moses,  you  recollect,  could  not  see 
his  face  and  live.  Accordingly,  Ezekiel  describes  the 
whole  house  of  Israel  under  it,  as  an  assemblage  of  dead 
and  dry  bones.  The  sons  of  Jacob  were  thus  set  forth,  not 
as  existing  in  this  state  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  but 
as  sinners  against  law  which  had  been  given  to  themselves 
by  Moses.  It  was  ordained,  it  is  true,  in  the  hand  of  a 
Mediator  :  bein£  designed  to  subserve  a  sreneral  mediatorial 
purpose,  but  still  it  was  law.  Hence  Paul  describes  it  as 
"the  ministration  of  death  and  condemnation:"  and,  in 
his  general  reasonings  on  the  relative  position  of  works  and 
faith,  it  furnishes  him  with  the  means  of  demonstrating  the 
insufficiency  of  works.  Its  sanctions  were  purely  of  a 
temporal  character  ;  as  I  presume  any  one  may  know,  with- 
out having  any  great  amount  of  biblical  scholarship. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  much  as  it  may  have  been  overlook- 
ed, that  the  transgression  of  Adam  and   the  transgressions 
of  the  Jews   are   said  in  the   scriptures  to  be  alike.     The 
psalmist  savs — "  Ye  shall  die  like  Adam,  and  fall  like  one 
18* 


210  LECTURE  S^ON 

of  the  princes."*  The  idea  intended  to  be  conveyed,  as 
is  very  common  in  the  old  testament,  is  expressed  in  the 
form  of  a  couplet.  To  die  like  Adam,  and  to  die  like  one 
of  the  princes,  is  much  the  same  thing.  The  whole  psalm 
relates  to  official  character.  The  fall  of  Adam  was  the 
fall  of  a  prince,  and  is  to  be  interpreted  on  official  princi- 
ples :  but  not  as  the  execution  of  a  fell  sentence,  which 
sweeps  all  nature  to  destruction,  without  pausing  to  con- 
sider, whether  no  remedial  agent  is  at  hand.  And  as  all 
the  Jews  constituted  a  nation  of  official  men,  were  God's 
kings  and  priests,  this  kind  of  death  might  be  predicated 
of  them  all.     Hence 

Hosea,  speaking  of  Ephraim,  says — "  They,  like  Adam, 
have  transgressed  the  covenant,  or  dispensation."!  Here 
the  sins  or  the  offences  of  the  Jews  are  declared  to  be  like 
Adam's  offence ;  and  not  only  so,  but  the  dispensations 
Under  which  they  respectively  sinned  are  compared 
together.  If  so,  Adam's  offence  was  committed  against  a 
law  whose  sanctions  were  of  a  temporal  character. 

The  apostle  Paul  furnishes,  in  his  elaborate  argument  on 

justification,  the   same  general  idea."t     In  that  argument 

he  refers  to  some  who  "  had  not  sinned  after  the  similitude 

of  Adam's  transgression."     The  prophets,  as  has  just  been 

evinced,   speak  of  the  Jews  as  sinning   like  Adam  :  but 

Paul  speaks  of  those  who  did  not  sin,  like  Adam,  leaving 

the  impression  that  there  were  some  who  did  sin  like  him. 

Let  us  look  at  the  different  parts  of  his  argument.     But  let 

it  be  remembered  that,  when  sin  is  denied  of  any  of  those 

who  lived  between  Adam  and  Moses,  the   meaning  is  not 

that  they  had  no  personal  unholiness,  or  were  chargeable 

with  no  personal  transgression  ;  but  that  their  sin  was  not 

committed  against  law.     Please  to  bear  this  in  mind  when 

you  attend  to  the  following  exposition. 

" Until  the  law,"  he  says,  "sin  was  in  the  world:  but 
sin  is  not  imputed  where  there  is  no  law.     Nevertheless,. 

*  Ps.  lxxxii.  7.  t "Ch.  vi.  7,  J  Roin.  v,  12—20. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  213 

that  were  under  the  first  testament*  It  must  be  very  clear 
that  the  dispensation  under  which  Adam  was  placed,  and 
the  economy  afforded  to  the  jews  by  Moses,  were  the  same 
in  character;  and  that  if  spiritual  and  eternal  death  can- 
not be  referred  to  the  one,  neither  can  it  be  referred  to  the 
other. 

This  context,  however,  furnishes  us  with  an  illustration 
of  a  different  kind,  in  view  of  our  general  subject.  The 
apostle  lays  down  the  doctrine,  that  Adam  is  a  figure  of 
Christ :  and,  in  correspondence  with  it,  remarks,  that  as  by 
one  man's  offence  the  many,  i.  e.  all  men  were  made,  or 
constituted,  sinners,  so  by  one  man's  righteousness  the  many, 
i.  e.  all  men  shall  be  made,  or  constituted,  righteous:  And 
again — as  by  the  offence  of  one,  judgment  came  upon  all 
men  to  condemnation ;  even  so  the  free  gift  came  upon  all 
men  unto  justification  of  life.  I  know  full  well,  that  some 
would  make  the  words  all  men  refer  to  the  elect.  When- 
ever they  shall  be  able  tc  make  this  out,  they  will  be  fairly 
entitled  to  their  system.  But  why  should  they  attempt  it 
when  the  plain  fact  is  before  them,  that  all  men  go  down  to 
the  dust,  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin?  and  that  all  men 
shall  be  raised  from  the  dead,  in  consequence  of  Christ's 
righteousness?  This  simple  fact  explains  and  justifies  all 
the  apostle's  terms,  and  gives  them  a  very  beautiful  and  im- 
portant signification.  The  difficulty  of  those  theorists  lies 
here  : — It  is  very  evident,  that  by  Christ's  righteousness  all 
men  are  not  made  personally  holy :  but  somehow  or  other, 
in  their  estimation,  all  men  are  made  by  Adam's  offence  per- 
sonally sinful.  And  as  the  two  results  do  not  correspond, 
theologians  must  invent  a  mode  of  explanation  which  will 
preserve  the  assumption  with  which  they  start. 

Now  it  is  very  evident  that  the  same  terms  may  be,  and 
in  the  scriptures  often  are,  applied  both  to  the  symbol  and 
to  the  object  which  the  symbol  represents.  When  the  jew 
brought  his  victim  to  the  altar,  and  when  Christ  offered  up 

*  Heb.  ix.  15. 


•214  LECTURES  ON 

his  own  life,  the  term  sacrifice  was  unhesitatingly  applied  to 
either  oblation — Aaron  was  spriest,  and  Christ  was  &  priest. 
— The  term  saint,  or  holy  one,  may  be  veiy  properly  ap- 
plied to  an  individual,  in  view  of  his  personal  holiness;  but 
it  is  equally  applied  to  the  nation  of  the  jews,  or  to  chris- 
tian nations,  in  view  of  their  being  God's  peculiar  people. 
— In  like  manner  the  term  unclean  may  be  applied  to  an 
individual,  in  view  of  his  personal  defilement;  but  it  is 
equally  applied  to  the  gentiles  as  not  being  God's  peculiar 
people. — You  remember  that  Peter  was  prepared  by  a  vision 
to  receive  the  messengers  of  Cornelius ;  in  which  vision  a 
great  sheet  wTas  let  down  before  him,  containing  all  manner 
of  beasts,  clean  and  unclean.  When  commanded  to  kill  and 
eat,  he  answered,  "Not  so,  Lord;  for  I  have  never  eaten 
any  thing  that  is  common  or  unclean"  The  answer  he  re- 
ceived was — "What  God  hath  cleansed  that  call  not  thou 
common."  All  this  he  himself  explains  in  the  following 
manner : — "Ye  know  that  it  is  an  unlawful  thing  for  a  man 
that  is  a  jew  to  keep  company,  or  come  unto  one  of  another 
nation;  but  God  hath  showed  me  that  I  should  not  call 
any  man  common  or  unclean;  therefore  came  I  unto  you 
without  gainsaying,  as  soon  as  I  was  sent  for."  The  terms 
saint  and  unclean,  are  not  here  applied,  excepting  in  a  sym- 
bolic sense. 

You  also  remember  that  Paul,  speaking  on  the  subject  of 
divorce,  in  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  has  the  fol- 
lowing observations: — "The  unbelieving  husband  is  sanc- 
tified by  the  wife,  and  the  unbelieving  wife  is  sanctified  by 
the  husband  ;  else  were  your  children  unclean;  but  now 
are  they  holy."  Personal  sanctification,  personal  clean- 
ness, or  personal  holiness,  is  not  meant  by  the  apostle  ;  for 
in  the  first  place  it  is  an  unbelieving  husband  or  wife  that 
is  sanctified,  while  the  children  might  not  have  known  the 
right  hand  from  the  left,  nor  have  done  either  good  or  evil : 
and  in  the  second  place,  he  is  giving  directions  to  a  church 
in  view  of  constitutional  or  political  principles. 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  215 

In  like  manner  he  represents  the  Jewish  economy  as  a 
ministration  of  law — of  condemnation — of  death.  Of  course 
they  who  were  under  it  were  sinners.  On  the  other 
hand  he  describes  the  new  testament  as  the  ministration 
of  the  spirit — of  righteousness — and  of  life.  By  parity  of 
reason,  they  who  are  under  it  are  in  a  state  of  justification, 
or  are  righteous.  Not  that  all  the  jews  were  personally 
sinful  and  condemned ;  nor  yet  that  all  who  live  under  the 
new  testament  are  personally  righteous. — Hence  he  also 
says  to  Peter — "We  are  jews  by  nature,  and  not  sinners 
of  the  gentiles."  So  then  there  is  a  double  sense  in  which 
the  terms  righteous  and  sinner  must  be  viewed.  If  prima- 
rily they  refer  to  personal  qualifications,  secondarily  they 
are  merely  official.  Take  this  second,  official  sense,  and 
the  apostle's  argument  stands  out  clear  and  satisfactory. 

But  as  the  Redeemer's  work  has  been  thus  brought  up 
before  us,  let  me  ask,  whether  he  was  not  made  under  the 
law  ?  Was  he  rationally  under  the  law,  or  was  he  not  put 
there  for  an  official  purpose  ?  Did  he  not  bear  our  sins  in 
his  own  body;  but  did  he  thereby  become  personally  a  sin- 
ner ?  Did  he  not  die  for  our  si?is ;  but  did  he  die  because 
he  was  personally  a  sinner  ?  Did  he  not  redeem  us  from  un- 
der the  curse  of  the  law,  by  being  made  a  curse  for  us  ; 
yet  did  he  die  either  spiritually  or  eternally  ?  If  spiritual 
and  eternal  death  is  the  curse  which  the  law  denounced  on 
us,  and  he  did  not  die  spiritually  and  eternally,  then  did  he 
die  in  our  room,  or  as  our  substitute!  or  did  he  endure  the 
curse  of  the  law  ?  Do  not  the  scriptures  say  that  he  was 
put  to  death  in  the  flesh  ?  In  fine,  can  any  one  assign  the 
reason,  why,  when  Paul  declares — "  Christ  has  redeemed 
us,  being  made  a  curse  for  us" — he  should  prove  it  by  a 
quotation  from  the  Mosaic  law,  saying — "For  it  is  written, 
cursed  is  every  one  that  hangeth  on  a  tree  ?" 

Understand  me.  These  questions  are  asked,  not  with 
any  intention  to  throw  any  doubt  over  the  mediatorial  cha- 
racter of  our  Redeemer,  as  though  he  had  not  been  made 


216  LECTURES  ON 

a  curse  on  our  account ;  but  merely  to  show,  that  as  he  did 
not  die  spiritually  and  eternally,  spiritual  and  eternal  death 
could  not  have  been  included  in  the  penalty  of  the  Adamic 
statute.  And  as  his  being  a  curse — not  for  the  jews  alone, 
but  as  prefigured  by  Adam — has  been  proved  by  the  Mosaic 
law,  the  Mosaic  law  and  the  paradisiacal  constitution  must 
be  the  same  in  principle,  in  their  reference  to  life  and 
death.  As  Christ  died  in  the  flesh,  Adam  by  his  sin, 
brought  death  in  the  flesh :  and  as  the  Mosaic  law  pro- 
nounced temporal  death,  the  Adamic  institute  could  do  no 
more. 

In  this  connexion  it  may  be  also  asked,  what  does  the 
baptist  mean,  when  he  says — "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God 
that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world!"  His  view  appears 
to  be  precisely  the  same  taken  by  Paul,  when  he  speaks  of 
the  one  offence,  by  which  all  men  are  made,  or  constituted, 
sinners,  and  are  brought  into  condemnation.  The  sin  of 
the  world  is  this  one  offence  ;  and  Christ  comes  to  take 
it  away.  Should  this  sin  lead  to  temporal,  spiritual  and 
eternal  death,  then  Christ,  by  his  righteousness,  must  take 
away  temporal,  spiritual  and  eternal  death  from  all  the  world; 
which,  it  will  be  admitted  by  all,  is  not  the  fact.  For 
while  the  baptist  speaks  about  the  world,  the  apostle  speaks 
of  the  many,  or  all,  on  whom  Adam's  offence  has  entail- 
ed its  disastrous  consequences.  To  all  men  therefore  the 
baptist  refers,  when  he  says  that  Christ  takes  away  the  sin 
of  the  world  ;  and  there  is  no  room  left  for  any  interpreta* 
tion,  but  that  which  would  be  established  by  the  fact  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead ;  in  which  all  men  are  shown  to 
be  brought  into  a  justification  of  life,  by  the  righteousness 
of  Christ. 

There  are  some  analogies,  afforded  in  the  scriptural  his* 
tory,  which  cannot  be  explained,  excepting  on  the  princi- 
ple by  which  I  have  now  interpreted  the  original  law  ;  an- 
alogies to  which  no  one  would  ever  think  of  ascribing  any 
other  than  a  secular  or  external  agency.     In  consequence 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  217 

ci  the  flood,  the  life  of  man  has  been  very  much  short- 
ened ;  and  by  the  same  physical  instrumentality  employed 
after  the  fall — a  curse  upon  the  ground.  Yet  no  one  would 
ever  suppose  that  spiritual  or  eternal  death  was  thereby 
introduced.  An  effect  is  produced  on  the  whole  material 
system,  and  on  the  animal  powers  of  man ;  the  common 
use  of  animal  food  became  necessary  ;  the  universal  depra- 
vity, as  it  had  been  betrayed  in  the  preceding  ages,  is  re- 
ferred to  with  grief;  and  God  places  his  bow  in  the  clouds, 
as  a  testimony  that  he  would  no  farther  curse  the  ground 
for  man's  sake.  But  notwithstanding  these  facts,  no  one 
would  ever  think  of  referring  spiritual  and  eternal  death  to 
the  curse,  then  pronounced  on  the  ground.  Such  an  effect, 
therefore,  as  has  been  contemplated  in  our  exposition  of 
the  Adamic  dispensation,  involving  simply  the  animal  na- 
ture of  man  and  his  secular  associations,  has  been  actually 
produced  in  our  world,  and  by  a  divine  judgment.  In 
supposing  then  the  effects  of  Adam's  transgression,  when 
God  cursed  the  ground  for  his  sake,  to  be  similar  in  their 
character,  the  principle  of  exposition,  thus  adopted,  has 
nothing  objectionable  or  derogatory  in  itself  For  as  it  is 
sustained  by  scriptural  fact,  and  admitted  to  be  on  an  equal- 
ly extensive  scale,  the  very  course  of  judicial  policy  adopt- 
ed by  Jehovah  in  a  subsequent  case,  unless  there  can  be 
something  indubitably  and  demonstrably  clear,  to  show 
that  the  divine  judgment  was  of  a  different  kind  in  Adam's 
case,  the  interpretation  now  given  is  unassailable.  More- 
over, the  ground,  having  been  cursed  for  Adam's  sake,  this 
very  course  of  policy,  developed  as  succeeding  the  flood, 
whether  there  was  any  farther  action  included  or  not,  was 
pursued  in  the  event  of  the  fall.  If  there  be  any  other 
proceedings  involved  in  the  execution  of  the  threatened 
calamities,  they  who  advocate  them  have  the  burden  of 
proof  upon  themselves ;  while  the  explanation  now  given, 
-and  so  far  as  it  goes,  cannot  be  rejected  without  impeach- 
ing the  wisdom  and  providence  of  God.  % 
Vol.  I. — 19 


218  LECTURES  ON 

And  that  such  a  mode  of  divine  administration  might  be 
conducted  in  common  with  the  remedial  scheme,  is  also  il- 
lustrated by  analogy.  For,  when  the  ground  was  cursed 
for  Adam's  sake,  God  yet  gave  to  him  the  promise  of  "  the 
Seed  of  the  woman."  So,  when  further  temporal  calamities 
overtook  the  human  family  by  means  of  an  additional 
curse  on  the  ground,  God  entered  into  covenant  with  Noah ; 
who  appears,  as  Paul  explains  his  official  character,  as  "  the' 
Heir  of  the  righteousness  of  faith."  This  covenant  in- 
cludes all  mankind,  as  its  own  particulars  abundantly  evince. 
Yet  a  mere  external  condition  is  described,  and  spiritual  and 
eternal  life  is  left  in  its  own  original  connexions — a  matter 
belonging  to  personal  responsibility.  In  like  manner,  God 
made  a  covenant  with  Abraham,  in  which  the  patriarch 
sustains  the  official  character  of  Heir  of  the  world  ;  yet 
nothing  more  than  external  advantages  or  privileges  were 
secured.  Spiritual  references  abounded — the  scenic  display 
was  appropriate  and  beautiful — the  righteousness  of  faith 
was  brilliantly  set  forth — the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  wrought 
out,  in  his  providence,  a  most  magnificent  "  allegory" — 
but  each  individual  under  it  has  his  own  eternal  life  re- 
served as  the  object  of  his  personal  responsibility,  to  be 
sought,  secured,  and  enjoyed,  by  intercourse  between  God 
and  his  own  spirit. 

Nor  has  the  analogy  yet  run  out. — The  actual  transgres- 
sions of  mankind  have  been  very  much  modified,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  external  position  created  by  these  symbo- 
lic systems  respectively.  After  the  fall,  men  became  infi- 
dels; after  the  flood,  they  became  idolaters;  under  the 
Jewish  economy,  the  children  of  Abraham  became  formal- 
ists; under  the  christian  dispensation — what  are  we,  but 
the  advocates  of  Jewish  dogmas,  intermixed  with  gentile 
philosophism  ?  And  yet  shall  we  sternly  reject  our  exter- 
nal associations,  in  which  good  and  evil  are  so  variously 
and  uniformly  intermingled,  as  accounting  for  the  depravi- 
ty of  mankind,  who  derive  their  ideas  from  external  spec* 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  219 

tacle,  and  by  their  external  senses  ? — But  this  subject  will 
present  itself  hereafter. 

Having  these  analogies,  we  may  speak  with  some  confi- 
dence as  to  the  accuracy  of  our  principle  of  exposition. 
And  the  more  so  when,  descending  to  the  details  afforded 
by  the  new  testament,  we  hear  Paul  declare — "  In  me,  i.  e. 
in  my  flesh,  there  dwelleth  no  good  thing. — I  see  ano- 
ther law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law  of  my 
mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin 
which  is  in  my  members. — With  my  mind  I  myself  serve 
the  law  of  God;  but  with  the  flesh  the  law  of  sin.  0 
wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the 
body  of  this  death  ? — But  I  keep  my  body  under,  and  bring 
it  into  subjection?  lest  that  by  any  means,  when  I  have 
preached  to  others,  I  myself  should  be  a  cast  away. — What 
the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the 
flesh,  God  sent  his  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh 
to  do. — Mortify  therefore  your  members,  which  are  up- 
on the  earth."  A  thousand  other  like  expressions  might 
be  quoted  ;  and  they  would  all  be  sustained,  as  philosophi- 
cally accurate,  in  the  view  now  given.  But  this  matter 
also  must  be  reserved. 

Unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken,  the  doctrine  which  I  have 
advanced  is  necessarily,  but  covertly,  admitted  by  theolo- 
gians against  themselves.  For  not  only  do  their  comments 
upon  regeneration  imply  the  principle  for  which  I  contend, 
and  put  the  christian  into  the  very  state  I  have  described : 
but  they  strenuously  maintain  the  necessity  for  the  Spirit's 
operations,  to  accomplish  such  a  change  in  the  human  con- 
stitution, that  man's  spirit  may  be  able  to  understand  the 
gospel.  And  when  the  change  is  effected,  so  that  with  the 
mind  the  believer  really  does  serve  the  law  of  God,  yet 
they  cannot  get  sin  and  death  out  of  the  believer's  flesh. 
What  then  is  the  real  difference  between  us  ?  I  have  an- 
nounced that  the  offence  of  Adam  did  not  produce  that, 
which  they  say  the  Spirit  of  God  must  remove.     And  what 


220  LECTURES  ON 

advantage  do  they  really  gain  ?  Can  more  glory  redound 
to  God  by  saying,  that  one  divine  constitution  removed  a 
difficulty,  than  by  saying,  that  another  divine  constitution 
did  not  produce  that  difficulty  ?  What  benefit  do  they  se- 
cure, by  supposing  that  God  does  away  by  supernatural 
means,  that  which  he  had  done  by  natural  means  ?  There 
must  necessarily  be  a  sophism  in  their  speculations.  And 
it  arises,  I  imagine,  from  some  conceit  they  have  enter- 
tained of  the  superior  value  of  that  which  is  supernatu- 
ral— a  conceit  derived  from  mistaking  the  precise  use  of 
miracles.  The  mere  display  of  divinity  would  appear  to 
be  all  and  in  all  with  them ;  and  the  object  of  that  display 
nothing. 

But  there  is  another  way  by  which  they  covertly  employ 
the  principle  here  set  forth.  In  preaching  the  gospel  to 
men,  do  they  not  address  the  conscience  ?  All  men  have 
conscience.  Paul  tells  us  that  among  the  gentiles,  "their 
consciences  are  continually  accusing  or  else  excusing  one 
another."  And  what  is  conscience  ?  Is  it  matter  ?  Is 
it  mind  ?  Is  it  neither? — It  is  very  common  to  represent 
it  as  the  vice-gerent  of  God  in  the  bosom  of  man ;  an 
idea  borrowed,  I  presume,  from  the  book  of  proverbs,  in 
which  the  philosophic  moralist  says — "  The  spirit  of  man 
is  the  candle  of  the  Lord."  But  if  conscience  be  the  spirit, 
or  a  property  of  the  spirit  of  man,  is  conscience  dead?  Or 
if  the  spirit  of  man  be  the  candle  of  the  Lord,  is  the  spirit 
dead?  Do  any  appeal  to  conscience,  as  though  it  were  be- 
reft of  all  animation  or  power — a  mere  cold  fragment  of 
death  ?  Or  in  those  appeals,  does  not  every  one  try  to 
bring  forward  views,  of  whose  truth  the  mind  is,  or  may  be, 
conscious?  And  is  it  not  in  this  very  connexion  where 
conscience  is  found,  being  in  itself,  that  very  measure  of 
spiritual  illumination  and  life,  which  any  individual  may 
possess  ?— May  not  conscience  be  denied — seared  as  with 
a  hot  iron — loaded  with  dead  works  ?  And  when  such  is 
the  case,  is  that  its  natural   state  ?  or  is  it  the  result  of  a 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  22f 

course  of  actual  transgression,  in  consequence  of  which 
God  gives  a  man  up  to  "  a  reprobate  mind  ?"  Either  then 
it  is  folly  to  talk  about  mankind  having  conscience,  or  in- 
consistent to  maintain  that  they  are  spiritually  dead  by 
Adam's  sin  ?  In  a  state  of  spiritual  death,  as  that  phrase 
is  figuratively  used,  men  may  be,  when  degraded  by  the 
long  established  habits  of  loathsome  vice,  or  malignant  hos- 
tility to  truth ;  but  then  conscience  goes  too — defiled — sear- 
ed— shrouded  in  death. 

But  now  it  may  be  asked— Even  admitting  that  the  par* 
adisiacal  constitution  has  been  correctly  set  forth,  what  was 
its  use  ?  Did  not  God  unnecessarily  expose  his  creature 
to  the  fetches  of  temptation,  by  an  arbitrary  institute  en- 
danger his  standing,  and  so  sport  with  his  constitutional 
weakness  ?  By  no  means.  You  might  as  well  ask,  what  is 
the  use  of  civil  government,  of  the  parental  relation,  or 
of  the  divine  righteousness  exhibited  in  the  works  of  crea- 
tion and  providence  ?  We  are  informed  that  it  was  not 
good  that  man  should  be  alone.  A  companion  was  accord- 
ingly created,  and  an  enlarged  condition  of  social  existence 
was  thus  contemplated.  Social  responsibility  then  arose, 
and  its  results  would  be  of  the  most  diversified  and  extend- 
ed character.  The  young  must  learn  from  the  old,  and  the 
inferior  from  the  superior.  Parental  influence,  derived 
from  parental  example,  would  be  most  decisive ;  and  a 
moral  impression  would  be  left,  which  would  be  good  or  bad. 
according  to  the  character  of  the  influence.  This  is  human 
nature  ;  which,  in  no  view,  could  sustain  an  operation  more 
important,  nor  lead  to  issues,  either  more  diversified  or  ex- 
tended. Here  then  the  paradisiacal  constitution  comes  in. 
The  head  of  the  race  held  an  official  connexion,  by  the  re- 
sults of  which,  the  relation  between  righteousness  and  life 
on  the  one  hand,  and  between  sin  and  death  on  the  other, 
is  put  into  the  most  splendid  form,  and  made  to  subserve 
most  decisively  its  intended  purpose.  Nor  could  Adam's- 
19* 


222  LECTURES  ON 

official  character  be  regulated  by  any  other  law  ;  or,  being 
as  it  was,  terminate  in  any  other  consequences.  And  if 
mankind  would  calmly  reflect  on  the  origin  of  temporal 
death,  or  duly  estimate  the  moral  influence  of  the  varied 
afflictions  of  life,  they  would  neither  so  severely  censure 
the  providence  of  God,  so  listlessly  refer  to  the  effect  of 
Adam's  sin,  nor  talk  so  ignorantly  and  spasmodically  about 
dying. 

At  the  same  time,  when  Adam  was  put  under  this  parti- 
cular institute,  it  deserves  to  be  specially  noticed,  that  he 
was  taken  from  the  place  where  he  had  been  created,  and 
put  into  the  garden,  which  must  have  been  planted  with 
some  special  design.  What  was  that  design  r  Whatever  it 
may  have  been,  it  is  evident  that  such  a  change  of  posi- 
tion would  introduce  its  own  peculiarities  ;  and  would  throw 
Adam  under  an  economy  which  must  have  its  own  limita- 
tion. Unquestionably  some  advantages  were  conferred, 
some  privileges  were  to  be  enjoyed,  and  some  new  obliga- 
tions were  imposed.  But  no  explanation,  it  seems  to  me, 
can  be  given  for  this  movement,  unless  it  be  that  in  this 
new  location  we  must  look  for  the  circumstances  of  Adam's 
official  action.  Nor  is  there  any  thing  equivocal  or  derog- 
atory in  that  explanation  ;  for  official  character  always  con- 
fers honor,  and  enlarges  the  sphere  of  useful  and  dignified 
services,  in  reference  to  him  on  whom  it  is  bestowed ;  as 
well  as  promotes  the  welfare  of  those  who  are  subjected  to 
its  control.  It  is  no  degradation  to  a  child  that  he  should 
be  subject  to  his  parents,  nor  to  a  nation  that  it  should  be 
subject  to  its  prince.  On  the  contrary,  the  intellectual 
faculties  of  children  are  most  happily  evolved  under  a  pro- 
per parental  superintendence  ;  while  a  nation  enjoys  peace, 
and  gains  renown,  under  the  discreet  legislation  and  be- 
nignant providence  of  a  wise  prince.  So,  if  Adam  had 
obeyed  the  law  under  which,  in  his  official  character,  and  in 
his  new  position,  he  was  placed,  all  his  offspring  would  have 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  223 

been  deeply  indebted  to,  and  highly  benefitted  by,  his  fideli- 
ty. And  even  as  the  fact  has  turned  out,  the  connexion  be- 
tween sin  and  death  is  so  fully  and  undeniably  established 
by  the  official  consequences  of  his  sin,  that  infidelity,  which 
affects  to  laugh  at  the  inspiration  of  the  bible,  must  cower 
to  the  analogous  demonstration  of  nature. — The  politician 
too  may  remember,  that  many  an  empire  has  faded  away, 
like  the  garden  of  Eden,  under  the  withering  and  blasting 
influence  of  official  sins. 

Such  is  the  most  philosophical  view  which  can  be  taken 
of  the  results  of  official  character.  They  may  be  seen  ex- 
emplified in  every  department  of  social  life.  And  is  it  not 
the  scriptural  view  in  the  case  before  us?  "  Cursed  is  the 
ground,"  said  God  to  Adam,  "  for  thy  sake."  Did  he 
curse  anything  else  for  Adam's  sake?  Or  would  a  curse 
on  the  ground,  transcending  all  its  affinities,  produce,  not 
only  temporal,  but  spiritual  and  eternal  death  ? 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this  phrase,  for  thy  sake  1  Have  we 
any  analogous  cases  in  which  this  language  is  used,  from 
which  its  meaning  may  be  ascertained  ?  The  following  ex- 
amples are  offered — If,  said  God,  I  find  in  Sodom,  fifty — forty 
and  five — thirty — twenty — ten  righteous  men,  I  will  spare 
all  the  place  for  their  sakes. — I  will  multiply  thy  seed  for 
Abraham's  sake. — In  thy  days  I  will  not  do  it,  for  David 
thy  father's  sake. — I  will  give  one  tribe  to  thy  son  for  David, 
my  servant's  sake,  and  for  Jerusalem's  sake,  which  I  have 
chosen. — For  my  name's  sake  will  I  defer  mine  anger.  Ex- 
pressions of  this  kind  abound  in  the  scriptures.  What  is 
their  meaning?  What  kind  of  legislative,  or  providential 
operation,  are  they  intended  to  intimate  ? 

It  is  here  where  theologians  begin  to  talk  to  us  about 
merit  and  demerit,  and  finally  run  off  into  a  sort  of  com- 
mercial account;  until  they  affect  to  strike  an  accurate 
balance,  when  they  make  the  elect  depend  on  Christ's 
righteousness  ;  and  at  the  same  time  suffer  Adam's  sin  to 
come  in  by  wholesale,  as  though  a  correct  arithmetical  calcu- 


2-24  LECTURES  ON 

lation  were  entirely  unnecessary.  But  the  terms  merit  and 
demerit  are  not  scriptural.  They  sustain  a  sectarian  dog- 
ma, or  a  piece  of  false  philosophy;  but  distort,  while  they 
profess  to  advance,  moral  science.  The  object  of  the  in- 
spired penmen  evidently  is,  to  refer  to  the  practical  influ- 
ence of  the  agent,  to  which  they  ascribe  the  effects  contem- 
plated. Ten  righteous  men  might  have  exerted  an  influence 
powerful  enough  to  have  regenerated  the  city  of  Sodom ; — 
even  as  the  preaching  of  Jonah  brought  the  city  of  Nine- 
veh into  sackcloth  and  ashes.  They  might  not,  it  is  true. 
But  our  God  acts  not  from  omniscience  abstractedly  consid- 
ered. His  judgment  is  according  to  facts ;  and  his  long 
suffering  waits  on  the  development.  And  so  the  ar- 
gument might  be  made  out,  in  view  of  the  other  cases 
quoted. 

Such  would  have  been  the  effect  of  Adam's  righteous- 
ness. Such  ought  to  be  the  effect  of  Adam's  sin.  That 
is — Each  individual  would  have  been  instructed  by  Adam's 
obedience  and  its  consequences,  that  eternal  life  depended 
on  obedience  to  the  law  inscribed  on  his  own  nature ;  or 
was  indissolubly  connected  with  personal  holiness :  as  by 
Adam's  disobedience  and  its  consequences,  it  is  now  demon- 
strated to  every  one,  that  eternal  death  will  be  the  re- 
sult; if,  as  personal  transgressors  against  the  law  of  our 
own  nature,  we  are  not  regenerated  and  sanctified.  The 
law  written  on  the  heart  requires  us  to  do  and  live  ;  and 
the  Adamic  constitution  was  intended  to  afford  a  symbol,  by 
which  that  law,  and  its  operations  should  be  visibly  illus- 
trated. 

Sceptics  have  been  not  a  little  sardonic  in  their  witty  ob- 
jections on  this  subject;  but  they  have  forgotten  their  phi- 
losophy in  their  love  of  pleasantry.  Would  God,  say  they, 
have  brought  upon  mankind  their  present  amoynt  of  suffer- 
ing, because  Adam  ate  an  apple  ?  But  then  the  question 
is,  can  official  sin  detail  a  general  calamity  ?  Or,  going  back 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  225 

to  the  original  state  of  our  being,  could  a  different  or  a  more 
appropriate  test  have  been  provided  ?  If  by  the  nature  of 
law,  the  least  offence  incurs  penalty,  so  that  "he  who  of- 
fends in  one  point  is  guilty  of  all,"  the  smallness  of  the 
transgression  in  question  made  the  symbol  so  much  the 
more  perfect;  and  the  effects  of  sin  entering  the  mind, 
were  the  more  happily  set  forth.  "A  little  leaven  leaven- 
eth  the  whole  lump."  The  type  is  transparent — the  objec- 
tion is  puerile. — "It  is  not  all  gold  that  glitters." 

Presuming  that  our  subject  has  been  sufficiently  eluci- 
dated, I  might  pause  for  the  present.  I  only  delay  to  re- 
mark, that  the  popular  doctrine  on  the  Adamic  constitution 
is  not  now  assailed  for  the  first  time.  You  may  go  back, 
discovering  many  similar  attempts  at  different  times,  until 
you  would  find  the  early  fathers  contending  about  the  mat- 
ter, and  Chrysostom  and  Augustin  taking  different  sides. 
They  have  passed  away  to  the  generations  of  the  dead ; 
and  others  have  again  and  again  occupied  their  places. 
Now  our  turn  has  come.  We  have  the  bible  in  our  hands, 
and  must  decide  for  ourselves.  What  did  they  say  ?  It  is 
imbecility  to  ask.  Read,  judge,  decide  for  yourselves. 
iTheir  talents,  like  their  rights,  were  no  better  than  your 
bwn.  And  if  you  will  only  examine,  you  may  decide, 
even  with  superior  accuracy.  I  leave  the  merits  of  the  ar- 
gument with  you : — and  may  God  Almighty  bless  your 
orayerful  deliberations. 


226  LECTURES  ON 


LECTURE  VIII. 


Symbols — Fall — Its  circumstances — Its  effects — Use  of  the 
Tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil — Physical  agent  by 
which  death  was  introduced — JVature  of  death —  Condition 
of  all  men — Law  and  Gospel — Human  depravity. 

In  the  last  lecture  I  described  the  paradisiacal  constitu- 
tion as  a  political  institute  ;  and  as  intended  by  its  results 
to  serve  a  symbolical  purpose.  This  principle  of  hierogly- 
phical  display,  carried  out  with  a  view  to  intellectual  or 
spiritual  benefit,  belongs  to  the  whole  material  system ;  and 
explains  the  relation  between  matter  and  mind.  The  hea- 
vens and  earth,  in  this  way,  declare  the  glory  of  God ;  or 
by  visible  representation  manifest  the  invisible  things  of  his 
nature.  Legal  ordinances  typified  moral  privileges.  The 
natural  relations  were  artificial  means  of  accomplishing 
spiritual  objects.  Hieroglyphics  were  mere  representatives 
of  something;  else. — While  language  was  circumscribed, 
and  possessed  few  words,  its  terms  were  taken  out  of  their 
natural,  and  applied  in  a  tropical,  sense. — Prophecy  is  the 
language  of  signs  and  figures,  and  speaks  more  by  pictures 
than  by  sounds. — In  fact,  all  language  is  full  of  figure,  and 
is  so  from  absolute  necessity : — not  that  this  circumstance, 
as  might  be  supposed,  is  a  mere  peculiarity  of  the  orientals  ; 
but  it  belongs  to  the  primitive  state  of  society,  and  attends 
it,  even  when  advanced  to  the  greatest  degree  of  refine- 
ment. 

To  exemplify  more  minutely : — A  tiger  would  represent 

fierceness; — a  lion,  courage; — an  ox,  strentgth; — a  serpent, 

wisdom; — a  mountain,  firmness; — a  palm-tree,  the  righteous 

man; — a  green  bay  tree,  the  wicked  man.     In  the  chapters 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  £>7 

before  us,  a  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  was  the  symbol 
of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil ; — the  garden  itself  typi- 
fied a  condition  of  great  external  blessedness,  under  a  right- 
eous political  administration — the  bruised  head  of  the  ser- 
pent signified  the  broken  power  of  the  god  of  the  world — 
the  sacrifice  pointed  to  the  offering  of  life,  which  Immanuel 
should  make  ;  and  illustrated  the  mortification  of  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh,  which  is  an  important  and  imperative  duty 
binding  on  all  men — the  cherubim,  at  the  east  end  of  the 
garden  of  Eden,  manifested  God  as  dwelling  among  men — 
Adam  himself,  as  having  the  dominion,  was  the  image  of 
Jehovah  as  Lord  of  all. 

In  later  times,  the  prophet,  priest  and  king,  with  their 
respective  services — Melchizedec  and  Moses,  distinguish- 
ed as  they  were  in  the  peculiarities  of  their  own  official  re- 
lations, and  the  carnal  ordinances  with  which  they  were  re- 
spectively concerned,  were  only  vivid  emblems  of  the  Son 
of  God,  in  view  of  his  mediatorial  character  and  action. 
Abraham,  as  a  covenant  head,  was  constituted  a  pattern  of 
the  righteousness  of  faith  ;  while  in  his  family  history,  we 
are  furnished  with  a  series  of  most  beautiful  allegories.  The 
Sinai  covenant  was  "the  ministration  of  death  and  condem- 
nation," showing  that  it  is  impossible  to  be  saved  by  law  ; 
and  the  new  testament  is  "the  ministration  of  righteousness 
and  life,"  evincing  that  the  sinner  may  attain  to  everlast- 
ing life  by  faith  in  a  Mediator.  Christ  is  the  image  of  the 
invisible  God,  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  to  which  we  are 
predestinated  to  be  conformed.  A  husband  is  an  image  to 
his  wife — a  parent  is  an  image  to  his  child — a  ruler  is  an  image 
to  his  subject — a  superior  is  an  image  to  his  inferior.  The 
principle  which  I  am  thus  pressing  on  your  consideration, 
ramifies  itself  through  all  society  ;  follows  human  life  in  all 
its  sinuosities,  and  leaves  no  social  relation,  natural,  political 
nor  religious,  free  of  its  control.  The  paradisiacal  institute, 
in  the  view  which  has  been  given  of  its  nature  and  objects, 
is  only  conformed  by  our  argument  to  the  whole  course  of 


•>28  LECTURES  ON 

divine  legislation  among  men.  He,  who  would  plead  for 
the  exception  of  that  original  statute,  or  hesitate  to  admit 
that  where  Christ  is  an  image  Adam  must  also  be,  must 
show  the  reason  why. 

In  the  primitive  state  of  society,  when  mankind  would 
slowly  imitate  the  hieroglyph ical  system,  by  which  God  of- 
fers through  our  corporeal  senses,  the  subjects  of  our  intel- 
lectual perception,  their  first  efforts  would  necessarily  be 
very  defective.  But  as  population  enlarged,  as  the  objects 
of  thought  became  varied,  and  social  interests  grew  multi- 
form, as  society  advanced  in  refinement,  and  intellectual 
men  devoted  their  leisure  to  educate  the  general  mind,  oral 
tradition  would  give  place  to  historical  record,  and  hiero- 
glyphics to  the  more  extended  system  of  alphabetical  lan- 
guage. If  then  God,  who  had  originally  taught  men  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  of  their  own  nature,  and  had  car- 
ried these  principles  as  far  as  their  circumstances  required, 
should  make  any  further  communication,  would  he  not  adopt 
their  later  modes  of  imparting  instruction  ?  Is  there  any 
irrationality  or  impropriety  in  the  idea,  that  in  the  advance 
of  society,  when  the  accumulation  of  labor  should  call  for 
^division  of  that  labor,  and  other  classes  of  official  men  should 
be  needed,  that  God  should  make  known  his  communica- 
tions by  official  men,  specially  appointed?  Or  is  the 
notion  offensive  and  unphilosophical,  that  such  official  men 
should  speak,  or  write,  as  the  nature  of  the  case  or  the  cir- 
cumstances of  society  might  demand  ?  Where  then  is  this 
tax  on  human  credulity,  which  the  doctrine  of  the  preach- 
ing of  the  cross,  or  the  inspiration  of  the  holy  scriptures  is 
declared  to  impose  ? — But  you  admit  those  doctrines ;  and 
see  you  not  that  external  means  are  thus  multiplied  ? 
that  ministerial  men  are  examples,  whose  moral  influence 
must  necessarily  be  extended  and  powerful  ?  and  that  the 
scriptures  themselves,  are  but  a  transcript  of  the  divine 
character  ? 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  229 

It  deserves  farther  consideration,  that  even  when  the  of- 
ficial men,  who  were  employed  at  any  particular  time,  were 
permitted  to  use  the  written  language  of  their  country,  yet 
the  ancient  symbolical  method  of  communicating  truth  was 
not  abandoned.  Moses  wrote  his  roll  of  the  judaic  history 
and  constitution,  and  God  himself  wrote  the  law  on  two  ta- 
bles of  stone.  But  the  history  which  Moses  wrote,  while 
it  gathered  all  the  ancient  symbols  into  a  good  and  safe 
keeping,  recorded  also  the  circumstances  under  which  origi- 
nated a  whole  series  of  new  symbols ;  or  a  whole  range  of 
carnal  ordinances,  made  up  of  the  elements  of  the  world. 
The  prophets  wrote ;  but  they  incorporated  an  extensive 
system  of  hieroglyphics  and  symbols  in  the  communications 
they  made.  The  apostles  and  the  evangelists  wrote ;  but 
the  Master,  by  the  institutions  he  set  up,  the  Lord's  day, 
preaching,  baptism,  and  the  supper,  secured,  by  symboli- 
cally representing,  the  great  points  of  his  mediatorial  en- 
terprise. The  reason  of  all  this  is  evident.  The  condition 
of  society  might  call  for  writing;  but  the  meaning  of  sym- 
bols is  more  fixed  and  uniform,  while  an  alphabetical  lan- 
guage is  both  local  and  changeable.  And  under  this  view, 
it  is  not  a  little  strange,  that  multitudes,  who  profess  to  re- 
gard divine  truth,  so  carelessly  consider,  or  so  habitually 
neglect  divine  ordinances. 

It  would  seem  then,  that  the  principle  adopted  in  expo- 
sition of  the  Adamic  dispensation,  betrays  no  hasty  nor  im- 
mature speculation  ;  but  runs  through  all  nature,  and  gives 
character  to  all  God's  institutions.  In  fact,  if  the  paradisia- 
cal law  be  not  interpreted  on  that  principle,  it  will  stand 
alone  ;  as  contradictory  to  the  whole  course  of  divine  le- 
gislation, as  it  is  destructive  of  personal  responsibility,  and 
therefore  contrary  to  the  nature  of  man. — But  waving  any 
farther  general  remarks,  let  us  proceed  with  our  analysis. 

How  did  the  fall  occur  ?     Is  it  to  be  accounted  for  by  na- 
tural means  ?  or  must  we  refer  it  to  a  supernatural  agency, 
which  Adam  was  unable  to  resist?     Was  there  any  secret 
Vol.  I.— 20 


230  LECTURES  ON 

influence  exerted  by  Jehovah,  in  pursuance  of  his  own  eter- 
nal and  irreversible  deer  eel  Did  he  permit  an  intelligent  being: 
to  exert  a  superior  power,  which  Adam  had  no  capacity  to 
oppose  ?  Or  did  man  commit  transgression  when  he  might 
have  avoided  it?  These  questions  are  of  paramount  im- 
portance ;  and  it  is  presumed  they  may  be  very  fairly  and 
distinctly  answered.  Certainly  the  historian  professes  to 
give  us  an  account  of  the  whole  catastrophe :  and  there  is 
as  certainly  a  wide  difference  between  a  crime  that  is  com- 
mitted from  compulsion,  and  that  which  results  from  the  ex- 
ercise of  a  man's  own  free  agency. 

I  must  here  call  up  to  your  recollection  the  fact,  which 
has  been  the  basis  of  the  whole  of  the  preceding  argument, 
and  of  every  theoretic  view  that  has  been  developed :  viz. 
that  man  has  no  innate  ideas.  I  am  aware  that  this  fact  has 
been,  in  various  ages,  a  matter  of  harsh  and  protracted  con- 
troversy. A  field  of  conflict  has  been  marked  out  in  which 
have  appeared  such  men  as  Aristotle,  Plato,  Descartes, 
Hume,  Reid,  Locke,  and  I  know  not  how  many  more,  as 
combatants.  But  my  impression  is,  that  this  subject  has 
been  finally  and  satisfactorily  elucidated  by  Locke ;  and 
that,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  he  met  with,  every 
one  who  is  at  all  acquainted  with  the  philosophy  of  mind, 
would  freely  concede  the  doctrine  I  have  stated.  And 
certainly,  any  man  who  is  governed  by  candor  and  a  love 
of  truth,  or  who  is  not  infatuated  by  the  conceits  of  false 
philosophy,  or  the  prejudices  of  an  illiberal  sectarianism, 
has  only  to  observe  the  peculiarities  of  his  own  constitution, 
and  the  daily  operations  of  his  own  mind,  to  be  fully  satis- 
fied in  relation  to  the  point  in  question. 

But  if  the  general  fact  thus  averred  cannot  be  disputed, 
its  truth  cannot  be  affected  by  the  character  of  the  ideas 
which  a  man  may  have.  Whether  those  ideas  shall  be  good 
or  bad,  they  cannot  be  innate.  He  may  have  an  innate 
capacity  to  make  a  choice  ;  or  he  may  labor  under  outward 
difficulties  in  making  a  choice ;  but  his  choice  is  neither 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  231 

holy  nor  sinful,  until  it  is  made.  If  his  ideas  are  not  innate, 
but  are  derived  from  exterior  sources,  they  can  be  neither 
good  nor  bad,  until  so  derived ;  because  they  do  not  exist. 
Knowing  the  character  of  external  objects,  or  the  difficulties 
in  which  he  may  be  involved,  you  may  anticipate  what  the 
character  of  his  ideas  will  be.  But  if  those  objects  be  of  a 
mixed  character,  and  good  and  evil  are  thereby  presented 
to  an  intelligent  and  free  agent,  with  the  intention  that  he 
should  make  a  wise  and  deliberate  choice,  you  can  readily 
see  what  ought  to  be  the  character  of  his  ideas.  And  if 
yrou  can  perceive  this,  yo\i  have  apprehended  the  principle 
of  personal  responsibility,  and  can  be  at  no  loss  to  explain 
its  philosophy. 

There  is  a  very  common  notion,  that  our  actual  transgres- 
sions cannot  be  explained,  but  by  admitting  that  our  intel- 
lectual nature  is  previously  corrupted.  If  by  this,  it  is  in- 
tended merely  to  assert,  that  a  man  commits  transgression, 
because  he  has  cherished  erroneous  impressions  derived 
from  sensual  objects ;  or  that,  when  good  and  evil  are  pre- 
sented before  him  as  an  intelligent  and  a  free  agent,  he  has 
chosen  evil,  this  view  is  scripturally  correct.  For — "As  a 
man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he.  Out  of  the  heart  pro- 
ceed all  evil  thoughts.  Every  man  is  tempted,  when  he  is 
drawn  away  of  his  own  lust,  and  enticed.  Then  when  lust 
hath  conceived,  it  bringeth  forth  sin."  But  if,  transcending 
these  limits,  it  is  intended  to  advance  the  doctrine,  that  the 
intellectual  nature  of  man  is  sinful  before  it  has  derived  any 
ideas  from  surrounding  objects,  or  before  lust  has  conceived, 
then  I  demur,  not  being  able  to  understand  how  this  can 
be.  For,  if  lust  has  not  conceived,  there  can  be  no  ideas: 
and  if  lust  has  conceived,  independent  of  sensible  objects, 
there  must  be  innate  ideas — which,  from  the  principles 
alreadv  elucidated,  there  cannot  be. 

But  that  such  an  exhibition  of  the  human  mind,  as  that 
which  I  reprobate,  cannot  be  true,  if  there  be  no  innate 
ideas,  and  if  the  spirit  comes  from  God,  is  still  farther  evi- 


232  LECTURES  ON 

dent  from  the  facts  in  the  historical  sketch  before  us,  Sin 
may  be  explained  without  maintaining  such  an  unscriptu- 
ral  and  unphilosophical  view  of  the  human  mind.  Adam 
and  Eve  had  no  corrupt  nature  when  God  formed  them, 
or  before  lust  had  conceived.  Neither  mind  nor  body  was 
previously  corrupted  in  their  case.  The  fact  was  the  same 
with  regard  to  fallen  angels.  They  had  no  previously  cor- 
rupt nature,  unless  it  can  be  supposed  that  God  created  them 
sinners — which  no  man  in  his  senses  can  suppose. 

Nor  is  this  all.  Moses  goes  on  circumstantially  to  relate 
how  it  happened  that  our  first  parents  did  sin  ;  and  instead 
of  referring  the  fact  to  their  innate  depravity,  he  ascribes 
it  to  ideas  which  they  derived  from  local  circumstances. 
The  serpent  beguiled  Eve.  She  saw  that  the  tree  was  good 
for  food,  and  that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to 
be  desired  to  make  one  wise.  Having  eaten,  she  gave  of 
the  fruit  to  her  husband  ;  and  he  hearkened  to  the  voice  of 
his  wife.  This  is  the  whole  account ;  and  it  is  not  unlike 
a  thousand  other  occurrences  which  take  place  in  every 
age,  and  which  we  may  see  every  day.  Evidently,  as  the 
apostle  James  explains  the  whole  subject  of  sin,  in  relation 
to  every  human  being,  and  when  considered  as  personal 
transgression,  lust  had  conceived,  and  then  sin  was  brought 
forth.  If  there  had  been  a  corrupt  nature,  previous  to  the 
entertainment  of  the  ideas  acquired,  it  would  seem  that  sin 
could  scarcely  have  been  committed  more  promptly. 

It  farther  deserves  your  consideration,  that  we  have  a 
general  subject  illustrated  here,  by  more  than  a  single  or 
insulated  fact : — there  is  a  great  variety  of  circumstances. 
The  fallen  angels  had  been  very  differently  situated,  and 
fell  under  the  operation  of  personal  responsibility,  exhibit- 
ing a  range  of  intellectual  aberrations  as  varied  and  exten- 
sive as  their  number  or  their  individual  characters,  unless 
theologians  can  cany  out  and  establish  their  system  of  a 
dull  and  impracticable  uniformity  in  the  invisible  world. 
Adam  was  a  social  head,  Eve  was  not.     The  one  fell  un- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  233 

der  social,  the  other  under  personal  responsibility.  The 
one  was  male,  the  other  female.  The  one  was  tempted  by 
the  serpent,  the  other  by  his  wife.  The  one  brought  death 
into  the  world  and  all  our  woes ;  the  other  entailed  conse- 
quences peculiar  to  her  own  condition.  A  greater  variety 
of  circumstances  cannot  be  presented  in  the  whole  extent 
of  human  existence  :  for  all  human  life  is  to  this  day  de- 
veloped in  the  issues  of  social  and  personal  responsibility ; 
in  the  influence  of  male  and  female  character  ;  and  in  the 
mingled  operations  of  different  beings  of  diversified  talents. 
Yet  a  previously  corrupt  intellectual  nature  is  not  at  all  ne- 
cessary to  account  for  the  multiform  results. 

In  stating  the  facts  of  the  case,  Moses  informs  us  that  a 
serpent  talked  with  and  beguiled  Eve  :  and  this  apparent- 
ly strange  matter  requires  our  attention.  Concerning  it  I 
remark, 

1.  That  Moses  means  to  inform  us  that  a  literal  serpent 
was  employed  as  the  agent  in  this  transaction.  Because — 
(1)  he  compares  it  with  the  beasts  of  the  field  ;  with  which 
he  would  not  have  compared  an  intellectual  spirit  (2)  God 
says  to  the  serpent — "  Thou  art  cursed  above  all  cattle,  and 
above  every  beast  of  the  field ;  upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou 
go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all  the  days  of  thy  life,"  which 
could  not  be  predicated  of  an  intellectual  being.  (3)  God 
farther  said  to  the  serpent — "  I  will  put  enmity  between 
thee  and  the  woman,  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed ;  it 
shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel" — 
which  is  a  universal  fact  in  the  history  of  the  serpent.  (4) 
The  subtlety  of  the  serpent  is  proverbial ;  hence  Jesus  says 
to  his  disciples,  "be  ye  wise  as  serpents."  (5)  Paul  tells 
us  that  the  serpent  beguiled  Eve.  (6)  "  No  part  of  an- 
cient mythology  is  more  curious,  though,  in  some  respects, 
more  intricate  and  perplexed  than  the  worship  of  the  ser- 
pent. Nearly  allied  to  that  of  the  cherubic  symbols,  it  ri- 
vals it  in  point  of  universality,  and  closely  resembles  it  ia 


20 


• 


.234  LECTURES  ON 

point  of  application."*  (7)  The  curse  pronounced  on  the 
serpent  constituted  a  visible  and  suitable  emblem — on  the 
same  principle  on  which  every  other  subject  is  represented 
to  man,  i.  e.  external  symbol — in  illustration  of  the  pro- 
mise that  the  Redeemer  should  break  up  the  dominion  of 
the  god  of  the  world,  or  "  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil." 
And  this  curse  it  appears  to  me,  would  be  accomplished 
without  changing  the  serpent's  form.  His  eating  dust  is 
enough. 

2.  That  Moses  intends  to  inform  us,  that  the  serpent  was 
the  mere  agent  of  an  intellectual  spirit,  is  also  evident : 
because — (1)  There  is  very  superior  intelligence  discover- 
ed.. The  address  was  made  to  Eve,  rather  than  to  Adam. 
Adam  was  "  the  image  and  glory  of  God,"  and  on  him 
rested  the  official  responsibility.  "Eve  was  the  glory  of  the 
man;"  and  therefore  might  be  the  more  easily  assailed, 
not  feeling  the  full  force  of  that  responsibility.  The  speak- 
er talks  of  the  Elohim,  a  term  which  expresses  the  whole 
mode  of  the  divine  manifestation  to  us ;  and  at  the  same 
time  remarks,  concerning  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, 
in  a  manner  which  shows  him  to  be  acquainted  with  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  the,  to  us,  invisible  world. — And 
the  very  choice  of  his  agent  was  as  deep  laid  an  artifice  as 
the  nature  of  the  case  would  admit  of.  (2)  Satan  in  the 
new  testament  is  described  as  "that  old  serpent,  called 
the  Devil,  and  Satan,  which  deceiveih  the  whole  world." 
(3)  One  part  of  the  Mediator's  work  was  to  condemn, 
judge,  or  cast  out  the  prince  of  the  world.  "  For  this  pur- 
pose was  he  manifested,  even  to  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil:" — to  "destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death, 
that  is  the  devil." 

*  Faber's  Orig.  of  Pag.  Idol.  vol.  I.  p.  439.  It  is  also  said  that 
"  in  the  orgies  of  Bacchus  Maenoles,  (or  the  mad)  his  worshippers 
were  crowned  with  serpents,  and  yelled  out  Eve,  Eve,  even  her  by 
whom  the  transgression  came."     Parkhurst's  Heb.  Lex. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  235 

I  am  aware,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  that  this  whole 
subject  of  Satanic  influence,  and  that  of  the  fall,  or  even 
the  existence  of  angels,  has  been  disputed  ;  and  that  an  at- 
tempt has  been  made  to  resolve  all  the  scriptural  allusions 
to  such  matters  into  mere  metaphors.  But  why,  or  what 
advantage  is  to  be  gained,  either  in  scriptural  exposition  or 
philosophical  speculation,  I  cannot  see.  If,  in  addition  to 
what  has  been  said,  intellectual  beings  here  can  influence 
each  other,  or  modify  the  forms  -of  matter,  is  it  unphilo- 
sophical  that  intellectual  beings,  though  of  another  and  a 
higher  order,  should  modify  matter,  and  thereby  influence 
us  ?  Does  not  God  affect  us  by  such  means,  both  in  com- 
municating good  and  inflicting  evil ;  and  do  we  not  there- 
by affect  each  other  ?  If  there  be  such  a  race  of  intellec- 
tual beings,  as  our  argument  contemplates,  how  else  could 
they  affect  us  than  through  the  instrumentality  of  matter  ? 
Admitting  the  fact  of  their  existence,  and  remembering  the 
peculiarity  of  our  being,  as  obtaining  our  ideas  through  the 
medium  of  our  corporeal  senses,  is  not  every  other  circum- 
stance in  perfect  good  keeping  with  the  whole  subject  ? 

Conceding  the  doctrine  of  spiritual  agency,  still  there 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  very  unmanageable  diffi- 
culty in  the  temptation  stated.  For  whatever  may  be  the 
supposed  intellectual  superiority  of  the  deceiver,  yet  the 
sphere  of  his  action,  in  that  case,  as  well  as  in  all  other 
temptations  to  which  we  may  be  subject,  was  circumscribed 
by  the  laws  of  the  material  system.  There  is  no  evidence, 
that  the  literal  serpent  actually  spoke.  Such  might  have 
been  the  appearance  ;  but  as  the  scriptures  unequivocally 
ascribe  the  power  of  death  to  the  devil,  and  as  it  is  his  king- 
dom which  the  Redeemer  came  to  overthrow,  the  power 
of  speech,  manifested  on  the  occasion,  was  only  farther 
proof  of  the  presence  of  an  intellectual  agent.  Eve  was 
deceived.  The  appearance  was  false.  On  the  other  hand, 
Adam  was  tempted  by  his  wife,  and  was  not  deceived.* 

*  1  Tim.  ii.  14. 


23G  LECTURES  ON 

Many  a  lying  wonder  and  sign,  and  much  deceivableness 
of  unrighteousness  after  the  power  of  Satan,  has  the  world 
seen  since  that  day  ;  in  view  of  which  aberrations  we  can 
now  discern  nothing  but  a  scene  of  human  guilt,  followed 
by  its  natural  and  merited  consequences. 

Take  a  glance  at  the  other  side.  The  Creator  had  placed 
our  first  parents  in  the  midst  of  the  happiest  circumstances. 
Blessed  in  each  other's  society — surrounded  by  every  thing 
good  and  excellent,  redolent  and  lovely — the  countenance 
of  their  Lord  radiant  with  smiles  and  beaming  with  love — 
their  access  to  him  free  and  unrestrained — themselves  dis- 
tinctly warned  against  the  evil  which  overtook  them,  and  so- 
lemnly forbidden  to  do  that  which  they  did  do — what  more 
could  an  intelligent  being  desire  ?  An  intelligent  being 
asks  for  information : — information  they  had.  A  depen- 
dent creature  seeks  for  happiness  : — they  possessed  all  the 
various  blessings  that  could  make  them  happy.  The  pro- 
vidence of  Jehovah  presided  over  the  whole  scene ; — his 
Spirit  dwelt  with  them.  God  had  done  for  them  whatever 
their  nature  required,  or  the  peculiarity  of  their  situation 
demanded.  He  could  not  have  gone  farther  without  de- 
stroying their  free  agency.  He  could  not  have  thrown 
farther  restraint  upon  the  subtle  adversary,  than  that  under 
which  the  temptation  itself  shows  him  to  have  been  placed  : 
for  there  was  no  appeal  made  to  them  but  through  sensible 
circumstances  ;  nor  could  they  else  have  been  overcome. 
.What  more  would  they  have  had  ?  Or  can  any  one  imagine, 
that  a  righteous  Lord  made  them  responsible  for  an  amount 
of  power  which  they  never  possessed  ? 

Theologians,  however,  have  put  this  whole  affair  in  such 
a  light,  that  every  one  must  feel  that  there  is  a  sophism 
lurking  in  some  part  of  their  exposition.  From  their  pre- 
mises, the  conclusion,  that  God  is  the  author  of  sin,  to  many 
a  mind  appears  unavoidable ;  and  perhaps  some  would  ad- 
mit the  conclusion,  rather  than  abandon  the  premises. 
Here  theological  science  and  the  common  sense  of  man- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  '37 

kind  are  at  utter  variance.  The  argument,  whose  conclu- 
sion appears  so  offensive  to  some,  and  which  I  apprehend 
all  would  gladly  explain  away,  is  derived  from  the  abstract 
perfections  of  Godhead,  about  which  we  can  know  nothing, 
God  has  manifested  himself,  and  beyond  that  manifestation 
our  inquiries  cannot  be  carried,  without  becoming  involved 
in  perplexing  conjecture. 

The  argument  would  run  thus : — Nothing  can  be  fore- 
known  as  certain,  which  is  not  fixed  as  certain  ;  therefore, 
according  to  the  order  of  nature,  predestination  is  the  basis 
of   foreknowledge.     Or    thus; — whatever    is    foreknown 
must  certainly  come  to  pass  ;    therefore — w7hat  ?      Fore- 
knowledge is  as  sure  a  basis  on  which  to  rest  the  doctrine 
of  fate,  as  predestination  itself  can  be.     Then  Adam  fell 
because  it  was  foreknown  or  predestinated  that  he  should 
fall.     If  this  conclusion  be  admitted,  is  not  God  the  author 
of  sin  ? — If  it  be  denied,  how  came  Adam  to  fall'?     He  fell 
as  a  free  agent,  it  may  be  replied.     But  how  could  he  fall 
as  a  free  agent,  when  it  wTas  certain  and  necessary  that  he 
should  fall,  and  all  contingency  is  shut  out  from  consider- 
ation?    Here  is  a  mystery.     For  how  can  these  two  state- 
ments be   reconciled  ? — Perhaps  it  might  be  offered  as  an 
alleviating  circumstance,  that  God  intended  to  do  mankind 
a  greater  good  by  introducing  the  gospel.     But  then  wre 
may  answrer  that,  independent  of  God's  being  thus  repre- 
sented to  do  evil  that  good  may  come — a  course  of  action 
which  he  forbids  to  his  creatures — this  notion  does  not  re- 
lieve the  original  argument ;  because  it  still  makes  the  fall 
to  be  necessary,  in  pursuance  of  a  divine  determination. 

But  is  it  not  evident  that  we  have  in  the  present  case  a 
constitution  with  two  sides  1  Was  not  obedience  contem- 
plated, as  well  as  disobedience  1-  Was  not  penalty  opposed 
by  reward 7  And  did  not  Jehovah  foreknow  what  would 
occur  in  one  view,  as  well  as  in  the  other?  If  then  fore- 
knowledge necessarily  implies  predestination,  it  must  have 
been  predestinated  that  Adam  should  fall,  and  that  he  should 


238  LECTURES  ON 

not  fall.  As  this  cannot  be,  it  follows  that  foreknowledge 
does  not  necessarily  imply  foreordination ;  and  that  God 
might  foreknow  a  train  of  circumstances  which  he  did  not 
ordain,  but  which  are  to  be  traced  simply  to  the  responsi- 
bility and  agency  of  the  creature.  This  conclusion  is  not 
derogatory  to  the  character  of  Jehovah,  nor  can  it  in  the 
least  degree  detract  from  the  wisdom  or  righteousness  of 
his  lordship  over  our  world ;  and  yet  the  free  agency  of  the 
creature  is  thereby  entirely  relieved,  and  stands  forth  sus- 
tained in  all  its  individuality  of  operation. 

Certainly  the  scriptures  do  so  exhibit  the  divine  charac- 
ter. God  takes  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  his  creatures  ; 
he  does  for  them  whatever,  consistently  with  their  nature, 
he  can  do ;  he  would  gather  them,  as  a  hen  gathereth  her 
brood  under  her  wings,  but  they  will  not. — "Let  no  man 
say,  when  he  is  tempted,  /  am  tempted  of  God;  for  God 
cannot  be  tempted  with  evil,  neither  tempteth  he  any  man  : 
but  every  man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away  of  his 
own  lust,  and  is  enticed."  Language  cannot  be  plainer, 
nor  more  to  the  point ;  it  seems  to  have  been  framed  on 
purpose  to  meet  the  speculations  of  the  day,  which  either  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  charged  God  with  being  the  author  of  sin. 
.  Cleaving  to  a  false  mode  of  reasoning,  some  may  say — 
still  it  is  evident  that  Adam  fell  by  divine  permission  ?  But 
then  the  question  comes  up,  what  is  permission  ?  Does 
it  imply,  that  any  extraneous  and  irresistible  force  was  al- 
lowed, under  which  Adam  could  not  avoid  sinning  ?  If 
this  is  meant,  the  fatalism  thus  asserted,  is  no  better  than 
the  fatalism  resulting  from  predestination.  Is  it  not  evident, 
from  the  fact  of  the  temptation,  as  well  as  from  the  divine 
declaration  in  reference  to  the  fall — "Behold,  the  man  is  be- 
come as  one  of  us  to  know  good  and  evil" — that  good  and 
evil  are  intermingled  elsewhere  than  in  our  immediate 
world  ;  and  consequently,  that  it  is  over  such  a  condition  of 
things  that  Jehovah  presides  ?  Does  the  existence  of  evil 
in  our  world  imply,  that  when  one  human  being  tempts 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  239 

another,  he  who  is  so  tempted,  is  by  a  divine  agency  led 
into  sin  ?  Or  would  you  infer  any  injustice  in  the  divine 
administration  which  does  not  paralyze  the  arm  of  every 
wicked  man  ?  and  house  the  righteous,  so  that  they  should 
neither  see  nor  hear  the  evil  that  is  around  them  ?  Would 
you  have  the  great  Governor  of  the  world  to  break  up  all 
the  relations  of  life,  reverse  the  law  of  probation,  and  make 
you  holy  by  force  ?  If  not,  then  extend  the  same  rectoral 
principle  to  the  relations  of  mind,  and  to  the  circumstances 
attendant  on  those  relations,  and  where  is  your  difficulty  ? 
Under  such  a  view,  permission  does  not  imply  force  ;  the 
divine  government  appears  to  be  regulated  according  to  the 
intellectual  character  of  his  creatures ;  and  the  free  agency 
of  man  is  preserved  in  its  own  distinctness,  and  occupies 
its  own  appropriate  place. 

Take  an  example.  Satan  was  permitted  to  tempt  Job  ; 
and,  as  you  all  know,  sore  and  heavy  were  the  patriarch's 
calamities.  Far  more  severely  dealt  with,  it  would  seem, 
than  Adam  had  been — for  Job  was  bereaved  of  all  his  out- 
ward comforts,  which  Adam  was  not — and  well  nigh  reduced 
to  that  solitude  which  Adam,  it  would  appear,  apprehend- 
ed ;  yet  Job  held  fast  to  his  integrity.  Nay,  he  seems 
among  the  other  subjects  of  his  glorying,  to  glory  over 
Adam.  "  Did  I  cover  my  transgressions  as  Adam,  by 
hiding  mine  iniquity  in  my  bosom  ?  Did  I  fear  a  great  mul- 
titude, or  did  the  contempt  of  families  terrify  me,  that  I 
kept  silence,  and  went  not  out  at  the'  door?"  True,  God 
found  reason  to  condemn  Job,  but  did  not  find  fault  with  all 
he  had  said.  On  the  contrary,  his  criticising  and  carping 
friends  were  censured,  while  he  was  consecrated  as  a  priest 
to  minister  in  sacrifice  for  their  sins  ;  and  was  most  abun- 
dantly blessed  in  the  end. — This  divine  permission  then, 
which  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  granted  when  Satan 
found  his  way  to  the  garden  of  Eden,  does  by  no  means 
imply  that  any  necessity  to  sin  was  imposed  on  Adam ;  but 
refers  to  a  course  of  administration  necessarily  belonging  to 


240  LECTURES  ON 

a  train  of  circumstances  in  which  good  and  evil  are  inter- 
mingled. 

I  have  been  the  more  particular  in  an  effort  to  elucidate 
Adam's  transgression,  because  it  is  an  epitome  of  all  that 
follows  in  the  varied  and  melancholy  history  of  mankind. 
If  the  argument  pursued  does  not  shake  the  harsh  preju- 
dices of  some  determined  sectarian,  it  may  perhaps  rescue 
some  ingenuous  youth,  who,  dissatisfied  with  the  metaphy- 
sical subtleties  he  cannot  unravel,  is  hovering  on  the  verge  of 
dreary  infidelity.  And  many  a  young  man,  in  this  day  of 
free  and  unrestrained  inquiry,  like  the  youth  in  the  garden 
of  Gethsemane,  is  wistfully  looking  to  the  end  of  all  these 
distractions,  in  hope  that  the  clouds  will  be  scattered,  his 
own  mind  relieved,  and  his  way  to  eternal  glory  made  bright 
and  clear. — To  the  prayerful  and  candid  attention  of  such 
an  one,  I  offer  my  exposition  of  this  momentous  subject: 
while,  at  the  same  time,  I  do  seriously  and  earnestly  wish, 
that  ministers  and  christians,  forgetting  the  past  or  learning 
from  its  misdeeds,  would  look  more  to  the  intellectual  and 
independent  character  of  the  coming  generations. 

We  must  now  turn  to  consider  the  effects  which  eatinsr 
of  the  forbidden  fruit  produced  upon  our  first  parents.  These 
effects  have  been  represented  as  of  the  most  fearful  char- 
acter:— nothing  less  than  that  this  guilty  pair  became  "dead 
in  sin,  and  ivholly  defiled  in  all  the  faculties  and  parts  of  soul 
and  body."  How  wise  men,  with  their  bibles  in  their 
hands,  could  make  so  broad  and  unreserved  a  statement  as 
this,  it  is  very  difficult  to  explain  ;  unless  that  they  careless- 
ly, and  without  investigation,  copied  the  errors  of  preceding 
ages.  There  are  many  dogmas  which  have  been  derived 
from  the  fathers  instead  of  the  bible ;  dogmas  which  have 
formed  a  chaplet  of  immortality  around  the  brows  of  Au- 
gustin  and  his  compeers,  but  which  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  testimony  of  the  prophets  and  apostles.  The  facts  as 
the  scriptures  report  them,  afford  a  very  different  case. 
Look  at  them — 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  24 L 

1.  Jehovah  says — "  Behold  the  man  is  become  as  one 
of  us  to  know  good  and  evil  /"     Can  the  doctrine  which  is 
taught  so  confidently  concerning  man,  be  at  all  advanced 
in  reference  to  God,  either  in  view  of  Adam's  fall,  or  of  any 
like,  but  prior,  event  ?     Yet  a  similarity  of  condition  is  as- 
serted.    Man  knows  good  and  evil,  as  God  knows  good 
and  evil.     You  would  not,  you  cannot,  predicate  a  corrupt 
nature  of  the  great  Creator.     Why  then  deduce  a  corrupt 
nature  as  characteristic  of  man,  when  this  divine  comment 
is  so  plain  and  distinct  ?    You  will  not  reply,  that  God  is  a 
Spirit;  for — while  man  is  also  an  intellectual  being,  and 
it  is  of  spiritual  corruption  we  are  speaking — you  would 
deny  the  recorded  fact  that  there  is  a  similitude.     I  cannot 
see  any  way  in  which  the  likeness  can  be  discovered,  un- 
less it  be,  that  God  as  Lord  of  all,  and  man  as  having  this 
world  put  under  his  dominion,  respectively  preside  where 
good  and  evil  are  intermingled.     So  far  as  personal  nature 
is  concerned,  you  may  not  even  breathe   a  suspicion  con- 
cerning Jehovah,  unless  it  be  that  "the  form  of  God  has 
become  by  the  fall  inappropriate  to  the  present  condition 
of  mankind ;  and  a  necessity  has  consequently  occurred  for 
a  second  manifestation,  and  that  in  the  flesh.     If  you  sup- 
pose the  address  we  have  quoted  to  have  proceeded  from 
the  lips  of  the  Mediator,  and  to  be  prophetic  of  his  future 
sorrows,  still  it  was  in  the  flesh  he  was  put  to  death.     In  no 
way  can  the  doctrine  so  strenuously  maintained,  be  made 
to  correspond  with  the  divine  comment;  while  each,  and 
all  of  the  suppositions,  whether  you  refer  to  dominion  or 
personal  form,  would  sustain  the  principle  of  exposition  I 
am  advocating: — Our  doctrine,  remember,  is,  that  the  ani- 
mal nature  of  man  is  made  subject  to  change  by  death, 
and  that  the  whole  material  system,  as  it  is  connected  with 
our  present  mode  of  existence,  is  exposed  to  the  same  dele- 
terious influence. 

2.  Adam's  sin  was  conventional.     He  fell  as  an  official 
man.     And  certainty  it  is  not  the  fact  now,  that  the  trans- 
Vol.  I.— 21 


242  LECTURES  ON 

gression  of  an  official  man  forthwith  desolates  all  his  pri- 
vate character.  Many  men  do  in  their  places  as  members 
of  a  corporate  body,  what  they  would  shrink  from  doing  as 
individuals.  They  may  understand  a  duty  in  their  own 
little  circle,  while  general  principles  which  may  embrace 
society  at  large  they  do  not  comprehend.  In  the  one  case 
they  may  be  righteous  according  to  their  knowledge ;  in  the 
other  they  may  sin  through  ignorance: — like  Paul,  blame- 
less as  to  the  institutions  under  which  he  lived,  but  igno- 
rant of  the  revolution  which  was  to  bring  in  "the  new  cov- 
enant." An  officer  may,  in  such  a  case,  ruin  his  personal 
reputation  forever;  but  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that 
he  should.  In  his  personal  responsibility  the  remedial  prin- 
ciple must  be  sought;  and  it  may  be — for  it  often  is — found 
there. 

3.  Even  if  Adam's  sin  had  not  been  official,  but,  like 
Eve's,  had  been  merely  personal,  such  a  fearful  disaster  as 
we  are   considering  would  not  necessarity  follow.      For 
though  the  scriptures  have  said,  that  "  whosoever  shall  keep 
the  whole  law,  and  yet  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of 
all;"  and  though  the  principle  of  law  may  be — "the  soul 
that  sinneth  shall  die" — so  that  there  can  be  no  recovery  by 
law;  yet  it  does  not  follow  that  a  remedial  operation  may 
be  utterly  impracticable  under  another  system  of  govern- 
ment.    The  mediatorial  principle  of  the  gospel,  viz. — "if 
any  man  confess  his  sin,  God  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive 
him  his  sin,  and  to  cleanse  him  from  all  unrighteousness," 
might  very  naturally  and  readily  be  introduced.     The  very 
fact  of  his  confession  may  indicate  a  fragment  of  moral 
character  j^et  remaining ;  like  as  in  Sodom,  when  ten  right- 
eous men  should  have  saved  the  city,  or  like  "  a  little  leaven 
that  will  leaven  the  whole  lump  ;"  or  it  may  be,  that  that  fact 
might  evince  a  general  state  of  good  feeling.     On  such  a 
fact,  a  government  that  is  both  wise  and  gracious,  may  very 
safely  extend  pardon,  and  thus  save   a  transgressor  who 
vTould  otherwise,  according  to  the  progressive  course  of  sin. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  243 

become  utterly  base. — And  if  one  sin  could  not,  or  did  not, 
so  desolate  the  moral  character  of  Adam,  how  should  it  so 
utterly  desecrate  all  the  moral  energies  of  his  children? 

4.  The  history  charges  him  with  but  one  sin.  God  ar- 
raigns him  for  but  one  sin.  Paul  traces  the  consequences 
which  have  come  down  on  all  mankind  to  one  offence. 
What  ingenuity  is  required,  and  wasted,  in  an  attempt  to 
show  that  Adam  violated  each  command  of  the  decalogue, 
and  that  death  has  come  on  all  the  world  because  that  he  be- 
came spiritually  dead  and  wholly  denied  ! 

What  is  the  proof  by  which  such  a  fearful  indictment  is 
established  ? 

1.  Adam  was  so  stupid,  it  will  be  said,  as  to  think  of  hid- 
ing himself  from  an  omnipresent  God.  But  such  is  not 
the  historical  fact.  For  he  heard  the  voice  of  Jehovah- 
Elohim  walking  in  the  garden,  and  he  hid  himself  from  the 
manifested  or  personal  presence  of  Jehovah.  In  connex- 
ion it  may  be  asked,  was  Moses  spiritually  dead  and  wholly 
defiled  when  he  exceedingly  feared  and  quaked? 

%  It  is  said  that  Eve  "laid  the  blame  upon  the  serpent;" 
and  Adam  "  laid  the  blame  upon  his  wife,  and  even  on  Je- 
hovah-Elohim  himself."  But  did  they  not  relate  the  cir- 
cumstances as  they  had  transpired  ?  Did  the}'  not  tell  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth  ?  Did  they 
not  with  great  simplicity,  frankness,  and  candor,  confess 
their  sin  ?  And  is  it  not  consistent  with  the  most  enlisrht- 
ened  and  liberal  views  of  human  nature,  to  interpret  that 
confession  as  repentance? — But  Adam  said  to  God — "  The 
woman  whom  thou  gavest  to  be  with  me."  And  is  this 
any  thing  more  than  a  pleonastic  mode  of  speech,  in  which 
more  words  are  used  than  may  seem  to  us  to  be  absolutely 
necessary  ?  and  which  may  well  be  employed  when  a  lan- 
guage could  have  but  few  words  ? 

Can  the  proof  adduced  sustain  the  charge  which  has 
been  so  confidently  tabled  ?  Or  does  any  more  appear  on 
the   face  of  the  record,   than  an  act,  by  which  evil  was 


244  LECTURES  ON 

brought  into  the  world  ? — evil  which  the  unhappy  pair  had 
begun  to  experience  in  their  own  persons,  but  which  had 
not  destroyed  the  refinement  or  delicacy  of  their  feelings  ? 
— and  an  act,  which  was  perfectly  consistent  with  their  love 
of  truth— with  candor — with  confession — with  repentance 
— and  which,  in  reference  to  Adam,  is  ever  recognised  in 
the  scriptures  in  its  own  insulated  character?  Jehovah  in- 
terpreted the  case  very  differently  from  the  popular  notion, 
which  scholastic  theology  has  so  injudiciously  and  harshly 
promulgated.  He  pitied  the  condition  of  his  fallen  child- 
ren ;  averred  that  they  were  now  brought  to  know,  not  evil 
alone,  hut  good  and  evil;  and  that  all  their  earthly  relations 
were  entirely  changed.  So  far  from  being  spiritually  dead, 
they  were  not  even  temporally  dead  ;  nor  does  it  appear  that 
the  tree  of  whose  fruit  they  had  eaten,  was  capable  of  pro- 
ducing death  in  either  sense.  Nay  more.  They  were  not 
condemned,  their  sentence  was  not  passed,  until  their  kind 
Lord,  retreating  into  that  personal  responsibility  which  be- 
longed to  their  nature,  and  availing  himself  of  their  moral 
character  as  it  was  displayed  at  the  time  before  him,  pro- 
claimed the  mediatorial  constitution — adapting  it  to  their 
actual  circumstances.  God  is  love — his  gospel  is,  "if  any 
man  will  confess  his  sins,  God  is  faithful  and  just  to  for- 
give him  his  sins  ;"  and  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  lu- 
minous proofs  of  both  is  afforded  by  these  very  transactions- 

I  have  just  remarked,  that  it  does  not  appear  that  the  fruit 
of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  was  the  cause 
of  death  in  any  sense.  This  intimation  may,  perhaps,  star- 
tle you  as  contrary  to  ail  your  impressions.  My  reasons  for 
the  remark  follow : — 

1.  It  is  not  said  that  this  tree  was  a  tree  of  death.  It  is 
said  that,  in  the  day  when  Adam  should  eat  of  its  fruit,  dy- 
ino-  he  should  die;  but  it  is  not  said  that  the  fruit  should  be 
the  agent  by  which  death  should  be  executed.  Its  agency 
was  much  more  confined  in  its  physical  action,  and  might 
have  been  temporary.     The  terms  by  which  its  effect  was 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  245 

described  at  first  were — the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil ; 
and  those  employed  in  stating  the  fact,  after  the  covenant 
was  violated,  were — their  eyes  were  opened,  and  they  knew 
that  they  were  naked.  Nothing  farther  is  asserted  con- 
cerning it. 

2.  While  the  principle  of  any  constitution  is  preserved 
entire,  any  case  which  may  oscur  under  it  must  be  provided 
for ;  either  by  special  statute,  or  by  the  law  of  another  con- 
stitution to  which  such  a  case  may  more  properly  belong. 
According  to  the  paradisiacal  institute,  Adam  was  our  social 
head;  and  to  his  offence  the  introduction  of  death  is  refer- 
red. But  Eve  was  first  in  transgression.  If  Adam  had  not 
sinned — and  the  case  might  have  occurred — then,  either 
the  tree  was  not  the  physical  agent  of  executing  death  ;  or, 
contrary  to  the  principle  of  the  constitution,  death  would 
not  have  come  by  Adam's  offence  ;  or,  Eve  would  not  have 
died.  Eve  violated  her  personal  responsibility,  and  her  sin 
was  considered  and  punished  irrespective  of  Adam's  offence. 
Or  if  the  fact,  that  her  daughters  have  shared  with  her  in 
herpenalty,  should  seem  to  make  hersin  official  like  Adam's, 
its  official  character  m List  be  altogether  secondary.  Or  rather, 
I  should  say,  that  the  fact  in  her  case  evinces,  that  the  prin- 
ciple of  social  responsibility  belongs  to  the  nature  of  society, 
and  is  identified  with  all  our  social  institutions.  Conse- 
quently the  Adamic  constitution  is  not  an  arbitrary  insti- 
tute, unkindly  engrafted  on  nature,  but  was  a  mere  regu- 
lation of  the  political  relation  in  which  Adam  stood  to  his 
posterity ;  and  therefore  could  only  result  in  political,  or 
external  advantages  or  disadvantages. — In  the  subsequent 
parts  of  the  scriptural  history,  instances  are  not  wanting,  in 
which  the  peculiar  character  and  deportment  of  children 
are  traced  to  maternal,  as  well  as  to  paternal  influence. 

3.  If  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil  was  the  physical  agent  by  which  death  was  introduc- 
ed, how  did  death,  so  introduced,  pass  upon  the  lower  or- 
ders of  creation.     Evidently  some  other  cause,  more  gene- 

21* 


246  LECTURES  ON 

ral  and  more  efficient,  is  necessary  to  explain  the  extent 
to  which  death  has  been  executed. 

4.  We  have  seen  in  a  previous  lecture,  that  Moses,  when 
on  mount  Sinai,  could  not  see  the  face  of  God,  and  live.  No 
such  difficulty  is  even  hinted  at  in  Adam's  case.  He  seems 
to  have  been  capable  of  the  most  perfect  familiarity,  and 
of  the  most  free  intercourse  with  God.  Moses  was  under 
the  sentence  as  passed,  and  the  force  of  the  physical  agen- 
cy by  which  the  sentence  was  executed.  Adam  was  not 
yet  under  that  sentence,  nor  had  he  felt  the  power  of  the 
deleterious  agent,  which  was  pointed  out  to  him  after- 
wards. 

5.  Death  is  appointed  unto  all  men. — "I  create  peace, 
and  I  create  evil"  saith  the  Lord.  The  execution  of  the 
penalty  was  not  put  out  of  his  own  hands,  but  is  left  as  a 
matter  of  his  own  just  administration. 

Then  it  may  be  asked,  what  was  the  precise  use  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  ?  To  which  I  answer, 
that  its  use  is  disclosed  b}^  the  transactions  themselves.  Its 
effect  on  the  animal  constitution  of  our  first  parents  was  the 
proof  of  their  guilt.  There  was  no  equivocation  possible  in 
the  case. 

But  can  it  be  supposed,  it  may  further  be  asked,  that,  un- 
der such  circumstances,  Adam  would  have  dared  to  equi- 
vocate ?  To  which  again  I  answer,  that  while  others  have 
represented  him  as  dead  in  sin,  and  wholly  defiled,  they  can 
hardly  censure  a  conjecture,  which  merely  supposes  that  a 
sinner  would  hide  his  transgression  if  he  could.  Nor  can 
they  justly  condemn  an  interpretation,  which  is  founded  on 
a  common  judicial  principle,  that  every  man  is  to  be  held 
innocent  until  he  is  proved  to  be  guilty.  In  their  lofty 
speculations  on  the  abstract  perfections  of  Godhead,  they 
may  indeed  scout  such  a  simple  idea.  But  they  would 
forget  such  facts  as  the  following.- — When  the  cry  of  So- 
dom's iniquities  came  up  before  the  Lord,  he  descended  to 
inquire  after  the  proof  in  the  case.     When  Cain  replied 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  247 

to  the  Lord — am  I  my  brother's  keeper?  the  Lord  answer- 
ed,   thy  brother's   blood  crieth    to   me  from  the  ground. 
When  Saul  pretended  that  he  had  fulfilled  the  command- 
ment of  the  Lord,  and  made  his  strong  asseveration  before 
the  prophet,  Samuel  asked  him,  "what  then  meaneth  the 
bleating  of  the  sheep  in  mine  ears,  and  the  lowing  of  the 
oxen  which   I  hear?"     When  Abraham  took  the  knife  to 
slay  his  son,  the  angel  of  the   Lord  said  unto  him — "  Lay 
not  thine  hand  upon  the  lad,  neither  do  thou  any  thing  un- 
to him  :  for  now   I  know   that  thou  fearest  God,  seeing 
thou  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  from  me." 
On  the  day  of  judgment,  the  wicked  are  represented  as 
pleading  their  cause  thus — "  When  saw  we  thee  an  hun- 
gered, and  did  not  feed  thee?"  The  answer  returned  is — 
"  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  did  it  not  to  me." — The  objector  to  our 
interpretation  would  forget,  that  we  must  appear  before  a 
judge  ;  that  the  judge  is  the  son  of  man  ;  that  every  one 
must  give  account  of  himself  in  the  day  of  judgment,  when 
he  shall  be  either  justified  or  condemned  by  his  ivords. 
Judgment,  like  every  other  political  transaction,  is  not  the 
mere  sovereign  act  of  a  supreme  Lord,  acting  independently 
of  the  feelings  or  views  of  the  intelligent  creatures  he  has 
made  ;  but  every  eye  shall  see,  and  every  ear  hear,  and 
every  tongue  confess,  that  the  judge  of  all  the  earth  doth 
right. 

And  now  we  may  distinctly  perceive,  that  if  the  forego- 
ing view  of  the  judicial  object  of  the  tree  of  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil  be  correct,  there  was  no  use  for  any  parti- 
cular tree  of  life,  to  serve  an  analogous  purpose.  Of  course 
there  was  no  particular  tree  of  life,  for  God  makes  nothing 
in  vain. 

But  if  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  was  not 
the  physical  agent  by  which  death  was  introduced,  by  what 
means  was  the  sentence  executed  ?  This  question  too  is 
fairly  and  fully  answered  by  Moses.     For  he  tells  us,  that 


2-18  LECTURES  ON 

the  Lord  God  cursed  the  ground  ;  and  that  he  did  this  for 
Adam's  sake;  or  because  that  he  had  violated  the  statute 
which  had  been  given  to  him.  A  similar  fact  occurs  in  the 
history  of  the  flood ;  which  visitation  produced  still  farther 
temporal  calamities.  Any  medical  njhilosopher,  even 
though  he  has  made  but  slender  attainments  in  his  science, 
will  underwrite  this  scriptural  explanation.  You  may  be 
fully  satisfied  on  the  subject  by  very  little  inquiry  or  obser- 
vation. 

This  physical  agency  will  not  only  explain  the  cause  of 
death,  but  it  will,  at  the  same  time,  account  for  its  univer- 
sality, and  will  demonstrate  the  interest  which  all  mankind 
had  in  Adam's  official  character.     But  it  cannot  prove  that 
Adam   or  any  of  his  posterity  did  become,  by  his  one  of- 
fence, dead  in   sin,  and  wholly  defiled  in  all  the  faculties 
and  parts  of  both  soul  and  body.     How  could  any  noxious 
miasm,  or  poisonous  vapor,  thus  exhaled,  morally  pollute 
the  mind  ?  Nay  more — how  could  spiritual  death  be  instan- 
taneously spread   out  over  the  powers  of  the  intellectual 
spirit,  by  an  act  whose  penalty  was  so  slowly  executed,  that 
the  powers  of  the  body  itself  were  brought  only  into  a  dy- 
ing condition?  And  farther  still — how  could  death,  tempo- 
ral, spiritual  and  eternal,  be  implied  in  the  sentence  origi- 
nally pronounced,  when  the  only   physical  agent  referred 
to  at  the  time,  did  not  produce  death  at  all  ?  Or  is  it  not 
evident  that  the  original  sentence,  instead,  as  has  been  as- 
serted, of  going  beyond  the  sentence  which  was  actually 
executed,  fell  far  short  of  it  ?  For  if  the  tree  of  the  know- 
ledge of  good  and  evil  was  the  physical  agent  by  which 
the  original  sentence  would  have  been  executed,  then  death 
could  not  go  beyond  Adam's  own  race..    Whereas,  when 
the  ground  is  desecrated   and  becomes  the  physical  agent, 
the  various  classes  of  animals,  as  well  as  the  whole  mate- 
rial system,  are  immediately  involved,  and  cannot  escape 
from  its  destructive  influence.     Their  sufferings — which 
speculative  theologians  have  not  been  able  to  account  fox — 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  249 

necessarily  follow ;  though  in  no  sense  can  it  be  said  that 
they  had  committed  Adam's  sin.  How  much  theologians 
have  taken  for  granted  !  Well  might  a  candid  reformer 
charge  his  successors  to  recollect,  that  Calvin  and  his  noble 
companions  had  not  discovered  all  that  is  in  the  bible. 

This  matter,  however,  cannot  be  dismissed  yet.  For, 
admitting  the  correctness  of  the  preceding  argument,  and 
supposing  that  the  death  of  the  body,  with  the  various 
temporal  calamities  that  attend  it,  constituted  the  penalty 
of  the  broken  law ;  even  then  would  not  death  be  eternal, 
seeing  that  the  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  belongs  to  the 
mediatorial  system  ?  Still  all  my  labor  would  thus  appear 
to  be  in  vain. — Perhaps  not.  The  objection  may  be  more 
specious  than  solid.     Let  us  try, 

1.  If  Adam  had  not  broken  the  law,  but  had  secured  its 
reward  for  himself  and  his  posterity,  they  should  not,  ac- 
cording to  the  general  principle  which  Paul  advances  in 
his  argument  on  the  resurrection,  have  remained  here  for- 
ever. As  there  is  a  natural  body  and  a  spiritual  body,  our 
parents  and  their  offspring  should  have  been  changed.  How 
would  this  change  have  been  accomplished  ?  Unquestiona- 
bly by  the  power  of  God.  As  manifestly  death  itself 
comes  not  as  the  simple  effect  of  any  physical  agency,  but 
as  a  matter  of  divine  administration ;  and  it  is  not  to  be 
viewed  as  a  mere  physical  necessity,  but  as  a  decision  of 
the  divine  judge.  Man  at  first  was  made  no  more  than 
"  a  living  soul,"  and  could  have  no  power  to  change  him- 
self. His  inability  to  raise  himself  from  the  dead,  would 
no  more  argue  the  eternity  of  death,  than  his  inability  to 
change  himself  from  a  natural  into  a  spiritual  body,  would 
argue  the  eternity  of  his  existence  in  this  world. — The  re- 
surrection therefore  involves  more  questions  than  the  mere 
issues  of  law  may  present. 

To  illustrate  my  meaning  by  an  analogy.  If  you  have 
entrusted  your  funds  to  an  agent,  and  he  has  squandered 
them  away,  assuredly  the  next  question  which  arises  is, 


250  LECTURES  ON 

whether  you  are  able  to  meet  your  personal  obligation  ?— - 
In  the  case  before  us,  we  have  the  two  systems  of  social 
and  personal  responsibility.  Under  the  first,  death  has 
been  introduced.  Then  the  question  is,  whether,  under 
the  second,  a  man  can  recover  himself?  If  he  can,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  sentence  of  the  law  to  prevent  him.  But 
man  cannot  raise  himself  from  the  dead,  because  in  his 
own  nature  he  is  nothing  more  than  a  living  soul. 

Call  back  the  analogy.  If  you  aue  unable  to  meet  your 
personal  engagements  when  your  agent  has  wasted  your 
means,  and  as  your  personal  character  has  not  been  lost,  ano- 
ther question  arises  : — w7hat  will — what  ought — your  cre- 
ditor to  do  ?  Your  personal  character  is  the  very  remedial 
resource  which  will  attract  his  attention,  and  in  view  of 
which  he  will  seek  for  relief.  So  in  the  case  before  us. 
Adam  had  committed  one  offence,  but  still  his  personal 
character  invited  confidence ;  and  the  personal  character 
of  his  children  is,  by  his  sin,  unhurt.  What  then  will  God 
do?  According  to  the  nature  of  the  creature  he  has  made, 
according  to  the  system  of  personal  responsibility  which  he 
established,  and  at  the  very  point  where  an  exertion  of  his 
own  power  would  be  indispensable  even  if  sin  had  not  been 
committed,  what  mav  we  look  to  him  to  do  ? — Is  it  con- 
trary  to  philosophy  or  scripture,  that  when  one  system  is 
exhausted,  we  should  draw  on  the  resources  of  another  ? 
When  state  objects,  so  to  speak,  or  political  purposes,  or 
the  general  interests  of  social  life,  are  preserved,  is  the 
divine  government  so  defective  as  to  leave  individual  in- 
tegrity unconsidered  ?  Would  an  administration  so  narrow 
and  improvident,  be  either  wise  or  good  ?  Did  not  Jehovah 
pardon  David's  sin,  while,,  yet  for  public  reasons,  or  because 
he  had  given  occasion  to  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  to  bias- 
pheme,  the  crime  itself  was  formally  punished  ?  Or  must 
all  such  considerations  be  thrown  aside  as  fugitive  and  irrele- 
vant, and  system  be  jumbled  up  with  system,  merely  to 
give  way  to  the  antiquated  conjectures  of  a  speculative  the« 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  261 

ology,  whose  distempered  fancies  are  more  sacred,  than  its 
arguments  are  conclusive  ? 

2.  Not  only  have  we  two  systems  whose  respective  inte- 
rests must  be  considered,  but  the  actual  circumstances,  as 
these  are  stated,  were  arranged  to  meet  those  interests. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  whole  paradisiacal  law,  to  prevent 
the  full  development  of  persojial  responsibility,  not  even  in 
view  of  transgression.  The  tree  placed  in  the  midst  of 
the  garden  contemplated,  by  its  own  terms,  a  state  of  socie- 
ty in  which  good  and  evil  should  be  intermingled.  It  was 
not  all  evil — all  death,  that  was  to  be  introduced.  All 
that  was  good  was  not  to  be  destined.  Evil  should  come, 
but  that  which  was  good  might  remain  with  it.  The  ex- 
tent of  the  threatened  evil  must  be  interpreted  by  the  fact. 
The  death  threatened  was  not  perdition — instantaneous  and 
entire.  The  penalty  was  expressed  in  very  different  lan- 
guage. Dying,  thou  shalt  die,  said  the  Creator;  thus  inti- 
mating a  prolonged  state  of  being,  though  suffering  under 
a  mortal  infirmity.  The  fruit  of  the  tree  was  not  the  phy- 
sical agent  in  executing  the  penalty  ;  but  the  ground,  whose 
deleterious  effects  would  be  gradual  in  their  operation. 
Though  Adam  forfeited  the  privileges  of  the  garden,  yet 
he  might  be  returned  to  the  spot  whence  he  was  taken. 
The  very  nature  of  the  animal  system,  in  that  it  might  be- 
come mortal  and  corruptible,  while  the  existence  of  the 
spirit  is  eternal,  together  with  the  limited  effect  produced 
on  the  moral  nature  of  our  first  parents — all  these  things 
abundantly  evince  the  political  character,  and  consequently 
the  external  influence,  of  the  Adamic  institute.  No  case 
can  be  more  clear.  Every  view  which  it  presents  looks  to 
a  remedial  agency  as  both  natural  and  just ;  both  wise  and 
good.  And  when  the  remedial  expedient  is  so  visibly  ex- 
hibited, at  every  point  and  on  every  turn,  it  would  be  very 
6trange,  if  the  dogma,  unrelentingly  wrapping  up  the  whole 
system  in  the  gloom  of  eternal  death,  should  still  be  obsti- 
nately defended. 


252  LECTURES  ON 

We  must  now  look  at  the  effects  of  the  fall,  as  they  were 
visited  upon  all  men.  That  all  men  were  involved  in 
Adam's  official  proceedings,  must  be- evident  from  the  na- 
ture of  the  case,  as  well  as  from  the  character  of  the  phy- 
sical agent  employed.  The  deleterious  influence  which  the 
ground,  as  having  been  cursed,  exhales,  is  universal.  There 
is  no  escaping  from  it.  How  men  can  dispute  the  fact,  I 
do  not  see.  But  that  they  should  quarrel  with  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  fact,  as  it  has  been  taught,  is  no  matter  of  won- 
der. Our  nature  instinctively  revolts  from  any  political 
doctrines  which  impute  a  vindictive  character  to  the  Eter- 
nal, or  which  would  build  up  despotic  institutions  on  earth. 
The  Spirit  of  God  affords  no  such  instructions  to  the  hu- 
man mind.  And  the  moral  philosopher,  in  attempting  to 
establish  such  notions,  fails  in  his  argument  from  a  deficien- 
cy of  testimony,  and  runs  counter  to  nature.  Take  away 
the  bayonetjind  the  sword,  the  gibbet  and  the  stake,  the 
star-chamber  and  the  inquisition,  and  human  beings  natural- 
ly revert  to  original  principles.  Hence  the  controversies 
of  the  present  age.  Church  courts  will  fail  in  their  con- 
flicts with  nature. 

Death  has  come  upon  all  men.  The  body,  as  the  scrip- 
tures describe  it,  has  become — this  mortal,  this  corruptible. 
A  weakness  of  the  flesh  has  supervened.  Man  is  not  able 
to  do,  what  he  could  do,  if  his  animal  nature  did  not  labor 
under  this  mortal  infirmity.  Hence  he  is  unable  to  obey 
law,  which  was  the  rule  of  his  being  in  its  original  vigor. 
Accordingly  the  Son  of  God  is  sent  in  the  likeness  of  sin- 
ful flesh,  to  do  that  which  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it 
was  weak,  through  the  flesh.  Or,  in  other  words,  the  gos- 
pel is  framed  to  meet  this  very  weakness,  under  which  our 
corruptible  bodies  suffer  and  groan.  Hear  Paul.  "  In  me, 
i.  e.  in  my  flesh  dwelleth  no  good  thing.  I  keep  my  body 
under,  lest,  after  having  preached  the  gospel  to  others,  I 
should  be  a  castaway  myself.  There  is  a  law  in  my  mem- 
bers, warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind.  The  flesh  lusteth 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  253 

against  the  spirit,  and  the  spirit  against  the  flesh:  and  these 
are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other."  Hear  the  Redeemer : — 
*'  The  spirit  truly  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak." 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  body,  and  its  appropriate 
senses,  constitute  the  means  by  which  the  spirit  acquires  its 
ideas,  and  the  instruments  by  which  it  acts.  Injure  the 
body  or  weaken  its  senses,  and  the  range  of  the  spirit's 
ideas,  as  well  as  the  sphere  of  its  action,  necessarily  becomes 
limited.  Under  such  circumstances,  we  cannot  do,  even 
what  we  would  do.  The  power  to  will  may  exist  where 
the  power  to  perform  is  not  possessed  ;  though  we  are  some- 
times told  that  human  inability  lies  in  the  will.  A  multi- 
tude of  objects  are  now  spread  out  before  me.  I  see  them 
all.  Let  me  be  deprived  of  my  animal  organs  of  vision,  and 
I  can  see  them  no  more ;  but  my  intellectual  power,  con- 
sidered as  an  attribute  of  spirit,  is  not  diminished.  Restore 
by  medical  means  my  animal  organs,  and  I  see  again ; 
but  a  surgical  operation  has  not  restored  a  lost  intellectual 
attribute.  While  blind,  I  would  see,  if  I  had  the  bodily 
power.  When  my  body  dies,  my  spirit  still  lives.  So  when 
Adam  brought  death  into  the  world,  the  body,  or  our  ani- 
mal nature,  became  corruptible  in  consequence  of  his  sin. 
Beyond  this  every  thing  is  personal.  I  would  have  seen 
better,  and  would  have  acted  more  powerfully,  if  my  body 
had  been  unimpaired  in  its  various  faculties  ;  but  still  I  see 
and  act  according  to  the  bodily  power  left,  and  for  that  I  am 
personally  responsible.  Deny  this  view,  and  there  is  no 
escape  from  sheer  materialism. 

There  is  no  subject  which  theologians  have  tortured  into 
more  shapes,  or  have  pencilled  out  under  a  greater  variety 
of  profile,  than  that  of  human  ability  and  inability.  It  is 
really  mournful  to  observe  how  deeply  and  awfully  myste- 
rious they  have  made  a  very  plain  point.  Certainly  it  is  a 
very  plain  statement  that,  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin 
superinducing  a  weakness  of  the  flesh,  men  cannot  obey 
law  ;  and  it  is  just  as  plain  that  they  can  obey  gospel,  be- 
Vol.  I.— 22 


354  LECTURES  ON 

cause  it  is  intended  to  meet  and  help  their  infirmities.  The 
whole  doctrine  of  the  scriptures  is,  that  man  cannot  be 
saved  without  a  Mediator,  but  that  he  can  be  saved  with 
one.  And  it  is  certainly  very  evident  that  neither  un- 
der law  nor  gospel,  neither  before  nor  since  the  fall,  can  man 
be  viewed  as  independent  of  the  providence  of  God,  or  as 
living  in  the  moral  and  intellectual  world,  any  more  than 
he  does  in  the  physical  world,  without  the  co-operating 
agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  What  can  be  more  evident? 

It  is  true  that  this  matter  has  been  argued  in  the  scrip- 
tures : — but  why  ?     The  two  systems — law  and  gospel — 
belong  to  the  history  of  man.     Under  the  one,  evil  has 
been  introduced  ;  under  the  other,  a  remedy  has  been  pro- 
posed.    They  are,  therefore,  the  legitimate  subjects  of  hu- 
man thought.     Accordingly,  in   all  ages  mankind    have 
been  reasoning  on  their  respective  claims.      Nay,  so  far 
have  they  carried  their  controversial  expositions,  and  so 
great  have  been  the  mistakes  into  which  they  have  reason- 
ed themselves,  that  Jehovah  found  it  necessary  to  repre- 
sent the  inefficiency  of  the  one,  and  the  remedial  agency 
of  the  other,  under  two  distinct  dispensations — the  Mosaic 
and  the  Christian.     The  argument,  therefore,  which  serves 
to  elucidate  the  original  subjects,  involves  the  two  dispen- 
sations ;  and  the  arguments  intended  to  explain  the  two  dis- 
pensations, involves  the  original  subjects.     The  Jews  mis- 
took the  nature  of  their  external  position,  and  of  the  pur- 
pose  of  election  by  which   they  occupied  that  position. 
Necessarily  they  stumbled  on  a  great  deal  of  metaphysical 
speculation  about  human  ability  and  inability.     Paul  had 
to  meet  and  refute  their  errors.     Since  their  days  chris- 
tians have  mistaken  their  external  position,  and  the  pur- 
pose of  election  by  which  they  have  been  so  peculiarly 
distinguished.     They  have,  in  fact,  revived  judaic  notions  ; 
and  are  consequently  involved  in  all  the  metaphysical  sub- 
tleties of  the  as;e  in  which  Paul  wrote.     But  more  of  this 
hereafter. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  255 

You  perceive  that  I  have  not  denied  the  fact  of  man- 
kind deriving  a  corrupt  nature  from  Adam.    -But  then  that 
corrupt  nature  consists  in  this — that  man  has  now  a  mortal 
and  corruptible  body.     As  he  originally  acquired  his  ideas 
by  means  of  his  corporeal  senses,  so  he  acquires  his  ideas 
now.     Those  senses  have  become  impaired,  but  the  intel- 
lectual power  is  not  in  itself  injured  or  corrupt.     It  can 
have  no  ideas  farther  than  it  has  the  outward  means  of  ac- 
quiring them.     But  so  far  as  those  means  go,  it  not  only 
can  but  does  acquire  them.     It  is  here,  where  personal  re- 
sponsibility,  from    the   very    nature   of  the    case,    arises: 
\vhere  ability  must  be  supposed,  and  beyond  which,  in  re- 
ference to  our  personal  -nature,  the   influence  of  Adam's 
sin  does  not  and  cannot  go.     There  is,  indeed,  an  indis- 
pensable  necessity  that  a  Mediator  should  be  provided  : 
and  that  his  institutions  should  correspond  with  the  mea- 
sure of  our  ability,   as   the   law  corresponded   with   the 
original  ability  of  Adam.     But  that  Mediator  being  pro- 
vided, and  his  institutions  being  established,  we   become 
personally  accountable,  and  perish  by  our  own  fault,  if  we 
perish  at  all.     Hence  the  scriptures  write  so  freely  of  the 
lusts  of  the  flesh,  and   inform   us  that   whenever  a  man 
commits  sin,  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  own  lust,  and  is  en- 
ticed ;  while  they  also  describe  the  gentiles  as  doing  by 
nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  and  showing  the 
work  of  the  law  written  on  their  heart, 

Man  having  this  corrupt  nature,  i.  e.  a  corruptible  and 
mortal  body , — carrying  about  him  "this  body  of  sin  and 
of  death," — having  "  a  law  in  his  members  warring  against 
the  law  of  his  mind," — goes  out  into  the  world  to  associate 
with  beings  of  his  own  kind,  and  corrupted  like  himself. 
At  the  same  time  the  whole  material  system  is,  to  him, 
like  his  own  constitution,  an  intermixture  of  good  and  evil : 
interesting  all  his  sympathies,  and  forming  the  resources 
<m  which  he  draws,  in  seeking  the  supply  of  his  wants  and 
the  gratification  of  his  desires.     Thus  constituted,  and  thus 


256  LECTURES  ON 

circumstanced  in  consequence  of  sin  committed  by  his 
social  head — having  no  innate  ideas,  either  good  or  bad — 
acquiring  all  his  ideas  by  his  bodily  senses  and  through  the 
medium  of  surrounding  objects — and  yet  living  and  acting 
under  personal  responsibilities  with  which  his  everlasting 
destiny  is  connected,  he  appears  in  the  midst  of  a  troubled 
scene  of  action,  to  fulfil  the  duties  and  meet  the  trials  that 
await  him.     Let  us  follow  his  course. 

As  a  new  born  babe,  ."  born  to  trouble  as  the  sparks  fly 
upwards,"  he  suffers  and  complains.  In  his  early  life, 
and  while  mind  is  yet  unfurnished  with  intelligence,  by 
which  he  can  discriminate  between  good  and  evil,  he  be- 
trays the  propensities  of  his  corrupt  animal  nature : — propen- 
sities which  seem  to  characterize  the  lower  orders  of 
creatures  themselves,  who  have  not  been  endowed  with 
intellectual  and  immortal  spirits.  These  propensities,  va- 
rying in  character  and  degree  as  widely  as  the  animal 
temperament  can  be  diversified,  the  excitement  he  feels 
and  the  restraints  under  which  he  acts,  are  derived  from 
the  sensible  circumstances  in  which  he  is  placed. 

I  am  aware  that  the  case  of  children  is  often  very  differ- 
ently represented.  They  are  supposed  to  betray  in  all 
their  apparent  aberrations  an  intellectual  depravity,  or  a 
state  of  spiritual  death,  as  the  direct,  the  necessary,  and 
the  invariable  consequence  of  Adam's  transgression.  The 
scriptures  appear  to  give  a  very  different  account  of  this 
interesting  matter.  Take  the  following  passages : — "Your 
little  ones,  which  you  said  should  be  a  prey,  and  your  chil- 
dren, which  in  that  day  had  no  knowledge  between  good  and 
evil"  "  Before  the  child  shall  know  to  refuse  the  evil  and 
choose  the  good"  "  Brethren  be  not  children  in  under- 
standing ;  howbeit  in  malice  be  ye  children,  but  in  under- 
standing be  men."  "  Should  I  not  spare  Nineveh,  that 
great  city,  wherein  are  more  than  six  score  thousand  per- 
sons that  cannot  discern  between  their  right  hand  and  their 
left  hand,  and  also  much  cattle  ?"     The  unbelieving  hus- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  257 

band  is  sanctified  by  the  wife ;  and  the  unbelieving  wife 
is  sanctified  by  the  husband ;  else  were  your  children 
unclean,  but  now  they  are  holy."  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
except  ye  be  converted,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye 
shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Suffer  little 
children,  and  forbid  them  not,  to  come  unto  me,  for  of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  he  laid  his  hands  on 
them,  and  departed  thence."  "The  promise  is  to  you 
and- to  your  children."  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,  and  thy  house."  These 
and  such  like  passages  of  the  scriptures,  evince  children  to 
be  the  special  objects  of  the  divine  affection  and  care ;  to 
present  the  best  view  of  moral  character,  when  a  simile  is 
sought  for  in  illustration  of  conversion,  or  when  intellectual 
life  is,  as  it  were,  to  be  commenced  anew ;  and  to  belong  to 
that  number  over  whom  the  mediatorial  administration  is 
peculiarly  extended. 

But,  to  resume  the  account  of  a  human  being  as  he  is 
passing  through  the  world. — He  is  first  committed  to  pa- 
rental care.    And  surely  no  one  can  be  so  dull  an  observer 
as  not  to  have  perceived  the  innumerable  deficiencies  of 
domestic  life — the  collisions  of  feeling — the  contrarieties 
of  opinion — the  opposite  habits  of  discipline — a  course  of 
government  which,  either  by  its  severity  palsies  the  moral 
sense  and  crushes  all  independence,  or  by  its  excessive 
mildness  and  imprudent  indulgence  nurtures  the  passions, 
and  leaves  the  mind  dormant — a  premature  attempt  to  call 
out  intellect,  while  the  feelings  are  untutored — the  disre- 
gard of  moral  influence  inducing  a  constant  appeal  to  cor- 
poral chastisement — false   systems  of  religious  education, 
which  substitute  the  abstract  propositions  of  an  antiquated 
catechism,  for  the  spiritual  exercises  of  the  parental  mind, 
and  for  the  co-operating  agency  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  presid- 
ing over  the  social  action  of  heart  upon  heart — the  un- 
philosophical  attempt  to  engraft  upon  the  infantile  spirit  the 
notions  of  other  men,  which  parents  themselves  do  not 
22* 


258  LECTURES  ON 

understand — the  great  solicitude  to  appear  fair  and  stand 
well  with  the  particular  class  of  society  to  which  a  fami- 
ly may  belong — the  endless  calculations  which  terminate 
on  business  or  pleasure,  on  wealth  or  honor,  on  fashion  or 
amusement,  while  conscience  is  coerced  into  silence,  or  is 
modified  according  to  the  standard  of  morality  which  that 
class  of  society  may  have  adopted — what,  I  pray  you,  can 
be  expected  from  such  a  tissue  of  parental  delinquencies, 
but  the  general  depravity  of  morals  we  are  called  upon  to 
explain  ? 

It  must  also  be  apparent  to  every  observer  of  human 
life,  that  all  children  do  not  grow  up  to  indulge  the  same 
vices,  nor  to  commit  sin  in  the  very  same  form.  The  chil- 
dren of  the  heathen  exhibit,  under  parental  tuition,  a  very 
different  set  of  habits  from  those  which  characterize  the 
children  of  the  Jews,  while  the  children  of  christians 
vary  from  both.  In  the  very  same  community,  one  family 
will  grow  up  entirely  dissimilar  to  another  family.  The 
artificial  distinctions  of  society — the  form  of  political  go- 
vernment— the  despotism  to  which  men  may  pusillani- 
mously  submit,  or  the  liberal  and  independent  principles 
they  may  enthusiastically  maintain — the  ecclesiastical  par- 
ties which  may  grow  out  of  a  period  of  excitement,  and 
Whose  dogmas  may  and  will  be  transmitted  by  a  religious 
entail,  until  that  excitement  is  worn  out — these  and  such 
like  varieties  of  social  life  are  carefully  and  sacredly  regard- 
ed by  parents  in  training  their  children,  giving  form  to  their 
manners,  tone  to  their  feelings,  and  vigor  to  their  preju- 
dices. All  these  varieties  will  occur  too  with  as  much  uni- 
formity, as  can  possibly  be  asserted  in  an  argument  which 
traces  up  the  general  depravity  to  a  corrupt  spiritual  nature 
derived  from  Adam  How  many  hundreds  and  thousands 
in  our  own  day  and  country  are  episcopalians,  or  presbyte- 
rians,  or  baptists,  or  methodists,  or  friends,  or  unitarians, 
or  infidels,  merely  because  their  fathers  were  such  before 
them !     How  many  sects  and  congregations  are  sustained 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  259 

in  this  very  way !  How  adventurous,  how  preposterous, 
how  heretical,  it  is  conceived  to  be  for  any  man  to  break 
away  from  the  dominion  of  this  social  law !  Such  an  ad- 
venturer has  lost  his  cast  in  Christendom  as  certainly  as 
though  he  had  lived  in  Hindostan  ;  and  his  compeers  seem 
to  think  that  they  owe  him  no  christian  reciprocities,  but 
that  they  may  sport  with  his  feelings,  cripple  his  influence, 
ruin  his  reputation,  warn  their  friends  against  a  pernicious 
contagion,  and  condemn  him  both  for  time  and  eternity. 
I  know  that  it  is  a  very  popular  doctrine,  that  every  man 
should  think  for  himself,  and  a  very  popular  boast  that  in 
our  beloved  country  any  man  may  do  so.  But  then  let 
any  one  venture  to  take  the  public  at  their  word,  and  begin 
to  dispute  the  infallibility  of  the  fathers ;  and  even  they  who 
would  rejoice  in  his  success,  stand  aloof  from  the  enter- 
prise in  which,  for  conscience  sake,  and  it  may  be  for  the 
public's  sake,  he  risks,  so  to  speak,  his  all.  And  yet  mul- 
titudes affect  to  wonder  at  human  depravity,  when  parents 
bring  up  their  childrenunder  such  fearful  auspices,  and,  in 
this  way,  often  reduce  the  finest  intellect  to  spiritual  death, 
by  their  own  thoughtless  but  criminal  mismanagement. 

But  if  the  parental  course  should  have  been  elevated 
above  these  sectarian  movements  and  this  hereditary  imbe- 
cility, yet  how  quickly  the  youthful  mind  becomes  vitiat- 
ed by  its  early  associations  !  A  thousand  adventitious  cir- 
cumstances attend  on  the  gradual  development  of  juvenile 
character.  The  young  begin  to  calculate  on  their  own  in- 
dividuality, the  strength  of  their  own  opinions,  and  the 
rationality  of  their  own  choice ;  and  a  new  scene  is  open- 
ed which,  in  its  incipiency,  gives  a  fair  prognostic  of  its 
riper  pretensions.  Under  the  force  of  early  predilections 
long  vibrating,  it  may  be,  amidst  doubts  and  fears,  but  at 
length  settled  on  objects  entirely  sublunary,  if  not  entirely 
sensual,  the  rising  generation  become  capable  of  abusing 
their  personal  responsibilities  ;  and  listlessly  sink  into  the 
same  routine,  in  which  their  fathers  descended  to  the  grave. 


260  LECTURES  ON 

When  referred  to  the  church,  in  hopes  of  inducing  other 
and  better  resolves,  they  find  themselves  met  by  mysteries 
become  sacred  by  age,  and  which  leave  their  inquisitive 
minds  baffled  at  every  step,  while  sectarian  prejudices, 
ministerial  conflicts,  and  ecclesiastical  despotism  forbid  any 
investigation  into  matters  they  do  not  understand  ;  and  thus, 
embarrassed  and  perplexed,  the}'-  abandon  the  hopes  in 
which  their  fathers  gloried.  The  multitude  stand  startled 
at  the  general  depravity,  and  can  discern  no  explanation, 
excepting  that  Adam's  sin  brought  all  mankind  into  tem- 
poral, spiritual  and  eternal  death,  by  "defiling  all  the  parts 
and  faculties  of  both  soul  and  body!"  You  may  go  into  the 
pagan  world,  and  changing  terms,  you  meet  the  same  result. 
A  modern  writer  has  well  expressed  my  ideas,  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph : — "The  thread  of  every  life  is  entangled 
with  other  threads,  beyond  all  reach  of  calculation.  The 
weal  and  woe  of  each  depend,  by  innumerable  correspon- 
dences, upon  the  will,  and  caprices,  and  fortunes,  not  mere- 
ly of  the  individuals  of  his  immediate  circle,  but  upon  those 
of  myriads  of  whom  he  knows  nothing.  Or,  strictly  speak- 
ing, the  tie  of  mutual  influence  passes  without  a  break,  from 
hand  to  hand,  throughout  the  human  family :  there  is  no  in- 
dependence, no  insulation,  in  the  lot  of  man ;  and,  there- 
fore, there  can  be  no  absolute  calculation  of  future  fortunes ; 
for  he,  whose  will  or  caprice  is  to  govern  the  lot,  stands 
perhaps,  at  the  distance  of  a  thousand  removes  from  the 
subject  of  it;  and  the  alternated  influence  winds  its  way, 
in  ten  thousand  meanders,  before  it  reaches  the  point  of  its 
destination."*  In  such  a  state  of  society,  who  does  not 
wish  to  see  those  overturnings*  by  which  our  mediatorial 
prince  shall  revolutionize  the  human  family,  and  construct 
our  social  operations  on  better  principles  than  those  which 
are  now  embraced?  The  promise  of  the  millennium  or 
some  such  happy  condition  is,  or  ought  to  be,  as  great  a 
relief  to  the  mere  philanthropist  as  it  can  be  to  the  most  re- 
*  Nat.  His.  of  Euthusiasm,  p.  138. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  261 

lined  moralist — who,  fascinated  by  the  beauty  and  brilliancy 
of  the  promised  re-organization,  is  wistfully  watching  for 
the  Master's  coming,  amid  the  distractions  which  now 
threaten  to  drive  our  ecclesiastical  principalities  into  deli- 
rious and  blasting  misrule. 

I  may  be  asked  whether  any  revolution,  which  can  make 
matters  better,  is  practicable,  or  may  intelligently  be  looked 
for  in  this  dying  world  ?  To  this  I  would  briefly  answer, 
that  if  you  reverse  the  causes,  you  may  reverse  the  effects ; 
that  the  scriptures  have  said — "  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way 
in  which  he  should  go,  and  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  de- 
part therefrom  ;"  that  if  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  are  vis- 
ited upon  the  children,  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  extended 
unto  children's  children ;  and  that  we  have  a  promised  scene 
of  millenary  righteousness  and  blessedness,  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  whose  peculiar  mercies,  the  taking  away  a  corrupt 
spiritual  nature,  as  having  been  derived  from  Adam,  is  no 
where  even  hinted  at. 

But  finally,  it  results  from  Adam's  sin,  that  Satan  has  ac- 
quired power  in  this  world,  and  that  we  are  all  exposed  to 
his  temptations.  "We  wrestle,"  says  Paul,  "not  against 
flesh  and  blood,  but  against  principalities,  against  powers, 
against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spi- 
ritual wickedness  in  high  places." — "If  our  gospel  be  hid, 
it  is  hid  to  them  that  are  lost;  in  whom,  the  god  of  this 
world  hath  blinded  the  minds  of  them  that  believe  not,  lest 
the  light  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  Christ,  who  is  the  image 
of  God,  should  shine  unto  them." — "  Be  sober,  be  vigilant," 
says  Peter,  "because  your  adversary,  the  devil,  as  a  roaring 
lion,  walketh  about,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour."  To 
many  a  timid  christian,  nothing  is  more  appalling  than  this 
very  view  of  his  earthly  course.  How  many  have  fallen 
under  the  prowess  and  malignity  of  this  mighty  Apollyon ! 
And  how  often  do  multitudes  ascribe  their  sins  to  his  arti- 
fices, and  make  a  natural  imbecility  of  their  moral  nature 
derived  from  Adam  their  apology,  rather  than  confess  their 


Z&2  LECTURES  ON 

heedlessness,  and  their  unbelief;  and  rather  than  equip 
themselves  for  the  conflict,  or  put  on  the  panoply  which  the 
great  captain  of  their  salvation  has  provided  ! 

To  these  three  causes — the  flesh,  the  world,  and  the 
deviLj  do  the  scriptures  uniformly  ascribe  the  personal  de- 
pravity of  mankind.  Whenever  they  speak  of  the  corrupt 
spiritual  nature  of  an  individual,  or  of  a  community  of  indi- 
viduals, they  intend  to  describe  the  powerful  control  of  the 
influences  which  have  been  thus  enumerated.  They  may 
speak  of  the  character  of  human  beings,  in  viewing  law  se- 
parate from  mediatorial  provisions;  as  I  would  fain  hope 
theologians  themselves  make  the  same  reference,  in  the  es- 
timate of  mankind  they  so  often  express.  Thus  judged,  all 
mankind  must  necessarily  perish.  Yet  still  their  perdition 
would  be  connected  with  their  personal  responsibility,  as 
none  of  them  can  obey  law.  But  under  the  influences 
stated,  nothing  else  can  be  inferred  than  a  carnal  mind,  or 
the  habit  of  minding  the  things  of  the  flesh,  which  is  enmity. 
against  God. 

If  any  should  not  be  convinced  by  the  preceding  argu- 
ment, or  do  not  perceive  that  their  own  responsibilities  call 
on  them  to  mortify  the  flesh — to  overcome  the  world — and  to 
resist  temptation,  as  covering  the  whole  sphere  of  their  ac- 
tion in  relation  to  sin  ;  then  let  me  ask  them  to  explain  to 
themselves,  how,  or  whence,  that  good  originates,  which 
they  call  morality  in  contradistinction  to  religion?  If 
mankind  be  wholly  defiled  in  all  the  parts  and  faculties  of 
body  and  soul,  and  be  dead  in  sin,  how  can  this  morality 
exist?  It  will  not  do  to  account  for  it  by  mere  restraint; 
because  as  all  is  evil,  when  a  restraint  is  imposed,  that  which 
remains  unrestrained,  must  still  be  evil.  But  the  morality, 
of  which  we  speak,  is  not  evil,  but  good.  Will  any  one  un- 
dertake to  say  that  conjugal  love  and  fidelity,  the  parental 
storge,  and  the  whole  train  of  social  virtues  are  evil,  and 
expect  to  be  believed  ?  When  Jesus  loved  the  young  ruler, 
who  had  kept  the  commandments  from  his  youth  up,  and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  263 

was  near  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  were  the  virtues  of  this 
young  man  evil?  and  did  the  Redeemer  love  that  which  is 
evil  ?  When  the  gentiles  do  by  nature,  the  things  contain- 
ed in  the  law,  and  show  the  work  of  the  law  written  on  their 
hearts,  is  all  this  evil?  When  Paul,  comparing,  in  this  re- 
spect, jews  and  gentiles  together,  remarks,  that  they  who 
have  done  good,  whether  they  be  jews  or  gentiles,  shall  in- 
herit eternal  life,  must  their  good,  and  that  which  is  written 
on  their  hearts,  and  is  in  them  by  nature,  be  still  spoken  of  as 
evil?  And  all  this  too,  as  the  consequence  of  Adam's  sin: 
when  the  consequence  of  that  sin  is  explicitly  declared  to 
be,  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil?  On  the  contrary, 
when  the  scriptures  speak  of  any  being  dead  in  sin,  do  they 
not  thereby  describe  a  course  of  personal  transgressions 
which  have  entirely  desolated  the  social  virtues: — "Tres- 
passes and  sins,  wherein  in  time  past  ye  walked,  according 
to  the  course  of  this  world — according  to  the  prince  of  the 
power  of  the  air — in  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  ?"  Look  at  Paul's 
description  of  a  community  characterized  by  a  reprobate 
mind,  in  the  first  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the  Romans, 
and  see  whether  it  be  Adam's  sin  or  their  personal  trans- 
gressions to  which  he  ascribes  their  dreadful  and  loathsome 
apostacy,  or  whether  the  very  goodie  have  spoken  of,  as 
constituting  morality,  is  not  absent? — In  fine,  is  not  the 
phrase — dead  in  trespasses  and  sin,  mere  figurative  language, 
describing  those  who  have  abused  their  privileges,  dishon- 
ored the  institutions  of  divine  love,  and  turned  traitors  to 
the  general  weal  ? — If  this  argument  fail  to  convince,  it  is 
useless  to  protract  the  discussion. 

But  after  all  what  has  been  gained  by  our  argument  ? — 
Truth,  if  no  other  peculiar  advantage,  I  answer;  and  by 
truth  we  are  "  begotten  again,"  are  sanctified  and  saved. 
Yet  I  trust,  we  have  also  gained  personal,  responsibility,  un- 
embarrassed by  the  subtleties  and  sophistry  of  the  schools; 
we  have  disclosed  to  those  who  are  "  ever  learning  and  ne- 
ver coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,"  the  reason  of 


264  LECTURES  ON 

their  unbroken  disappointment ;  we  have  made  appear  to 
those  who  are  professedly  waiting  for  God,  and  who  have 
never  experienced  the  regenerating  efficacy  of  his  grace, 
the  reason  why  they  have  not  realized  what  they  seem  to 
desire ;  and  we  have  thrown  the  mere  sceptic,  confident  in 
his  unbelief,  proud  of  his  superiority  to  fanatical  delusion, 
and  bitter  in  his  satirical  strictures,  upon  his  own  personal 
obligation,  as  he  demanded.  The  object  was  worth  achiev- 
ing. And  having  achieved  it,  as  we  believe,  we  will  hold 
it  fast  with  becoming  confidence,  as  though  it  cheered  and 
sustained  us  in  our  way  to  the  heavenly  inheritance.  "Go 
ye,"  said  Jesus,  when  he  commissioned  his  disciples  on 
their  errand  of  mercy,  and  ascended  to  the  throne  of  his 
glory — "Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be 
saved  ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  Would 
to  God,  beloved  brethren,  ye  did  believe,  and  that  ye  un- 
derstood the  truth,  that  ye  might  believe.  There  is  a  form 
of  divine  doctrines,  in  which  they  come  home  to  the  heart 
"in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with  power." 


LECTURE    IX. 


Mediatorial  constitution — Its  origin — Mediator — God  man- 
ifested in  the  flesh — Seed  of  the  woman. 

I  have  represented  the  paradisiacal  institute  as  a  politi- 
cal dispensation.  The  mediatorial  constitution,  which  we 
now  proceed  to  consider,  must  be  explained  on  a  corres- 
ponding principle.  Under  the  one,  a  great  and  sore  evil 
has  occurred ;  and  under  the  other  a  remedy  for  that  evil  is 
provided.     Of  course  the  two  constitutions  must  be  viewed 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  265 

.as  assimilated  to  each  other :  or,  as,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
broken  law  is  the  ministration  of  sin  and  death  ;  so,  on  the 
other,  the  gospel  must  be  the  ministration  of  righteousness 
and  life.  The  law  having  been  constructed  to  meet  the  pe- 
culiar attributes  of  human  nature,  the  gospel  must  be  sim- 
ilarly framed ;  or  it  would  be  inappropriate  to  the  case  it 
was  intended  to  relieve.  Under  both  forms  of  the  divine 
administration,  man  must  be  governed  as  an  intelligent  and 
accountable  agent;  and  they  must  be  suited  to  him  as  hav- 
ing no  innate  ideas,  but  as  acquiring  his  ideas  by  his  cor- 
poreal senses,  and  through  the  medium  of  objects  which 
those  senses  can  recognise. 

God  himself  made  man  thus  ;  and  there  is  nothing  de- 
rogatory to  the  divine  character  in  supposing,  that  the  di- 
vine legislation  will  precisely  correspond  with  human  na- 
ture. The  mediatorial  system  cannot  be  original  in  its 
principles,  because  it  is  intended,  and  proclaimed,  to  be 
remedial  only ;  and  any  available  matter  that  may  yet  be- 
long to  the  original  system,  which  is  to  be  relieved,  will 
not  be  rejected.  Man  is  not  taken  out  of  his  corruptible 
body,  and  placed  in  another  body,  which  shall  be  more  con- 
genial to  the  benevolent  purposes  of  his  Creator.  Neither 
are  the  natural  relations  to  be  broken  up,  nor  is  the  princi- 
ple of  social  responsibility  to  be  discarded.  But  a  new 
social  head  is  to  be  consecrated ;  each  individual  must 
" work  out  his  own  salvation;"  and  provision,  ample  and 
free,  must  be  made  ;  so  that,  notwithstanding  the  infirmities 
man  inherits  and  the  trials  that  await  him,  he  may  be  en- 
abled to  obtain  eternal  life.  The  two  systems  must,  there- 
fore, be  perfectly  analogous,  and  the  distinct  attributes  of 
man  must  be  as  fully  and  as  prominently  displayed  in  the 
last  as  they  were  in  the  first.  Nor  does  the  grace,  or  the 
wisdom,  or  the  power  of  Jehovah  appear  less  conspicuous, 
when  an  intellectual  agency  is  thus  predicated  of  man, 
than  when  he  is  described  as  perfectly  passive,  or  mechani- 
cal, under  the  influence  of  a  regenerating  Spirit.  A  mere 
Vol.  I.— 23 


%6  LECTURES  ON 

word,  a  sovereign  act  of  power,  would  accomplish  the  one, 
while  a  series  of  means,  most  diversified  and  minute,  and 
equally  appropriate  to  the  endless  variety  of  character  and 
situation  which  human  society  presents,  would  be  required 
by  the  other.  Where  shall  we  search  for  the  philosophy 
of  the  natural  world,  if  it  be  not  in  the  relation  between 
cause  and  effect;  in  the  mutual  dependencies,  and  in  the 
action  and  reaction,  which  meet  us  at  every  step ;  while 
each  creature  preserves  its  own  individual  character,  and 
carries  out  its  own  distinct  operations  ?  In  like  manner 
where  shall  we  search  for  the  philosophy  of  intellectual  life, 
or  moral  obligation,  if  all  the  actions  of  man's  individual 
faculties  are  to  be  merged  in  one  omnipotent  mandate  ? 
which  mandate  is  uttered  according  to  no  known  law,  but 
proceeds  from  mere  sovereign  good  pleasure.  I  infer  then, 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  that  there  is  more  room  to  dis- 
play grace,  wisdom  and  power,  in  a  regal  administration 
over  intelligent  and  free  agents,  than  there  can  be  in  a  so* 
vereign  superintendence  over  mechanical  agents. 

In  fact,  our  preceding  lectures  have  evinced,  that  the  me- 
diatorial institute  arises  directly  out  of  the  original  system : 
and  is,  in  view  of  the  divine  character,  a  natural  and  ne- 
cessary result  from  the  violation  of  that  system.  Call  up 
to  your  recollection  the  following  particulars,  which  have 
been  distinctly  noticed  in  the  progress  of  the  general  argu- 
ment. 

I.  Angels  fell  on  personal  responsibility.  In  their  con- 
dition there  is  nothing  analogous  to  the  natural  relations 
among  *men.  No  Mediator  has  been  provided  for  them. 
How  should  there  be  ?  Where  would  a  mediatorial  stand- 
ard be  reared  ?  On  what  circumstance  in  their  history,  on 
what  attribute  of  their  being,  could  a  remedial  institute  ex* 
ert  its  influence  ?  The  case  with  mankind  is  entirely  differ* 
ent.  Behind  social  responsibility  remains  another  system 
yet  unimpaired.  A  Redeemer  might  turn  with  confidence 
to  man' 8  personal  character.     Under  such  circumstances, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  267 

•why  should  not  a  Mediator  be  provided  ? — The  door  is  open- 
ed here,  and  a  Saviour  enters. 

•2.  If  Adam  had  not  eaten  the  forbidden  fruit,  then,  after 
a  period  of  personal  probation,  each  of  his  posterity  should 
have  -experienced  a  change  from  a  natural  into  a  spiritual 
body,  and  thus  have  been  introduced  to  a  final  judgment. 
This  change  could  not  have  been  accomplished  by  the  pow- 
er of  the  human  being,  inasmuch  as  Adam  was  made  mere- 
ly a  "living  soul."  Here  too,  in  the  contemplated  ope- 
rations of  the  system,  the  exercise  of  divine  power  is  ne- 
cessarily called  for.  Consequently,  when  we  are  reduced, 
by  Adam's  transgression,  to  look  at  the  other  side  of  the 
statute,  or  to  follow  out  the  penalty  in  its  deleterious  action, 
we  arrive,  by  a  different  route,  at  the  very  same  spot.  For 
death  is  now  the  outlet  to  introduce  each  individual  to  his 
personal  account ,  as  the  change  from  a  natural  into  a  spirit- 
ual body  would  have  been,  if  Adam  had  not  sinned.  The 
divine  power  is  therefore  referred  to,  from  the  nature  of 
the  system ;  and  whenever  Jehovah  steps  forth  to  act,  he 
will  display  the   intrinsic  excellence  of  his  own  character. 

3.  The  posterity  of  Adam  have  been  brought  into  their 
various  embarrassments,  by  a  sin  not  their  bvm.  A  judicial 
case  is  thus  referred  to  the  divine  arbitrament.  If  the  ac- 
cused be  not  guilty,  shall  they  be  condemned  ?  If  there  be 
any  alleviating  circumstance,  shall  it  not  be  considered — 
will  not  justice  speak  ?  If  there  be  any  hope  of  reform, 
will  not  mercy  speak  ?  Is  there  no  dispensing,  no  pardon- 
ing power,  belonging  to  the  supreme  Governor  ?  Shall  not 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ? — How  simple,  how 
easy,  the  whole  case  is  ! 

4.  By  the  fall  of  Adam,  his  children  suffer  under  the  ma- 
lignant prowess  of  a  powerful  adversary  ;  by  which  means 
the  judicial  investigation  is  extended  to  embrace  a  wide 
range  of  circumstances.  A  spectacle  is  presented  to  the 
universe,  and  other  hosts  of  intellectual  beings  become 
deeply  interested  in  the  decision.     Again  we  are  thrown 


268  LECTURES  ON 

on  the  divine  character ;  and  our  case  creates  universal  in- 
terest and  sympathy. 

The  system  itself  then  opens  up  a  door  for  mediatorial 
relief;  and  the  character  of  God  becomes  the  turning  point, 
where  an  inquiry  is  to  be  instituted  as  to  subsequent  pro- 
ceedings. I  know  very  well  that  theologians  have  taken 
a  very  different  view  of  this  whole  matter.  Fond  of  ab- 
stractions, and  imagining  that  the  more  degraded  the  crea- 
ture is  represented  to  be,  the  more  glorious  God  will  appear, 
they  can  see  nothing  but  an  inscrutable  sovereignty  presiding 
over  the  melancholy  scene  ;  and  deepen  the  gloom,  by 
teaching  that  God  should  have  been  just,  had  he  condemn- 
ed Adam  and  all  his  posterity  to  everlasting  perdition,  for 
the  "one  offence."  I  cannot  so  speak  of  Jehovah.  The 
scriptures  afford  no  such  representations  of  his  character  or 
conduct.  And  much  do  I  marvel,  that  even  those  who 
have  been  taught  from  their  earliest  years  to  estimate  their 
Creator  under  such  dark  and  suspicious  shadings  of  cha- 
racter, should  not,  when  they  see  that  he  has  filled  the  earth 
with  his  goodness,  promptly  embrace  the  first  opportunity 
of  forming  lovelier  views.  Such  thoughts  of  God  must 
cripple  all  their  efforts  in  his  service  ;  rebuke  any  approach 
to  intimate  or  filial  fellowship  with  him  ;  limit  their  spirit- 
ual experience;  fill  up  their  pilgrimage  with  misgivings 
and  distraction  ;  and  consign  them  to  the  grave  amid  doubts 
and  fears.  Hence  confidence  has  been  withdrawn  from  the 
Redeemer  himself ;  and  saints  and  angels,  as  secondary  me- 
diators, with  a  surplusage  of  supererogated  works,  and  litur- 
gies for  the  dead,  have  been  called  in  as  adjuvants.  Hence 
so  much  blame  has  been  thrown  on  Adam  at  one  time,  and 
on  Satan  at  another;  for  some  mode  of  explanation  is  indis- 
pensable to  meet  such  a  dark  statement.  Hence  the  chilling 
maxim,  by  which  many  justify  their  own  tremulous  hopes — 
'  he  who  never  doubted,  never  believed."  The  character 
which  such  moral  philosophers  or  melancholy  theologians 
delineate,  when  they  undertake  to  describe  the  Governor 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  26S 

over  all,  excites  no  confidence  and  wins  no  love.  Fortu- 
nately, however,  for  many,  their  inward  exercises  do  not 
always  correspond  with  their  published  creed.  They  derive 
loftier  moral  views,  and  more  heavenly  sensations,  while 
meditating  on  the  divine  promises.  In  these  promises,  which 
are  exceedingly  great  and  precious,  they  glean  some  vivid 
ideas  of  divine  love  ;  and  under  the  pleasing  and  enchant- 
ing, but  often  transitory,  excitement,  they  for  the  moment 
forget  their  petrifying  views  of  God,  as  riding  on  the  whirl- 
wind and  crushing  them  under  the  denunciations  of  un- 
satisfied law. — But  let  us  appeal  to  the  law  and  to  the  tes- 
timony.    Our  beloved  Lord  speaks  for  himself. 

God  is  love.  All  his  works — creation  and  providence — 
proclaim  his  goodness.  "  I  am,"  said  he,  "the  Lord,  the 
Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long  suffering  and  abun- 
dant in  goodness  and  in  truth — slow  to  anger  and  of  great 
kindness."  He  meets  all  who  are  distrustful  and  timorous 
with  a  solemn  oath — "  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah 
I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked  ;  but  that 
the  wicked  turn  from  his  way  and  live ;  turn  ye,  turn  ye 
from  your  evil  ways  ;  for  why  will  ye  die,  O  house  of 
Israel?" — Such  is  his  character,  and  when  did  he  ever 
falsify  it  ?  Whom  did  he  ever  disappoint  ?  Who  ever  called 
and  were  not  heard,  or  turned  and  were  rejected  ?  Who 
ever  perished  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  or  were  thrown  from 
the  everlasting  arms  into  the  gulph  of  perdition  ?  Whom 
has  he  not  commanded,  warned,  entreated,  and  besought  ? 
Come,  plead  against  him  if  thou  canst.  Recount  his  un- 
kindnesses,  tell  of  thine  unanswered  prayers,  make  men- 
tion of  thy  righteous  deeds,  and  publish  abroad  the  sorrows 
of  a  heart  he  has  broken  by  his  unrelenting  severity — if 
it  be  in  thy  power  to  fling  one  single  reproach  against  his 
merciful  administration.  Reproach  him  ?  No,  thou  canst 
not.  All  thy  life  long,  his  people,  his  ministers,  his  bible, 
his  Spirit,  have  sounded  in  thine  ear — "  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 


23 


* 


£70  LECTURES  ON 

believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life  :"  and  at  this  hour,  conscience,  in  thine  own  bosom, 
responds  to  the  truth  of  the  fact,  At  his  bar,  and  in  the  day 
of  his  burning  glory,  thy  spirit  shall  meet  the  unanswera- 
ble argument — to  sink,  it  may  be  unredeemed,  and  under 
a  load  of  personal  guilt  into  wailing  and  woe. 

This  is  with  me,  as  it  ought  to  be  with  all,  a  favorite 
topic.  Permit  me  to  recite  some  of  the  appeals,  which  the 
Saviour  himself  makes  to  the  good  sense  of  mankind. — 
"  What  man  is  there  of  you,  whom  if  his  son  ask  bread,  will 
he  give  him  a  stone  ?  Or  if  he  ask  a  fish,  will  he  give  him 
a  serpent  ?  No  man  would  be  so  inhuman  or  unfeeling 
If  ve  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  un^ 
to  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your  father 
which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that  ask  him  ?" 
He  has  nothing  evil  about  him.  He  is  your  Father,  and 
you  are  his,  children.  Can  you  then  for  a  moment  sup- 
pose, that  he  is  destitute  of  the  feelings  of  a  father -1 

"  You  ask  me,  why  I  receive  sinners  and  eat  with  them  ? 
'What  man  of  you,  having  an  hundred  sheep,  if  he  lose 
one  of  them,  doth  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the 
wilderness,  and  go  after  that  which  is  lost,  until  he  find  it? 
And  when  he  hath  found  it,  he  layeth  it  on  his  shoulders, 
rejoicing.  And  wtten  fee  cometh  home,  he  calleth  toge- 
ther his  friends  and  neighbors,  saying  unto  them,  rejoice 
with  me  ;  for  I  have  found  my  sheep  which  was  lost.  In 
like  manner,  when  I  go  out  as  the  great  shepherd  :  there 
is  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repented,  more  than 
over  ninety  and  nine  just  persons  that  need  no  repentance. 

' '  Either  what  woman  having  ten  pieces  of  silver,  if  she 
lose  one,  doth  not  light  a  candle,  and  sweep  the  house,  and 
seek  diligently  till  she  find  it?  and  when  she  hath  found 
it,  she  calleth  her  friends  and  her  neighbors  together,  say- 
ing, rejoice  with  me  ;  for  I  have  found  the  piece  which  I 
had  lost.     Likewise,  I  say   unto  you  there  is  joy  in  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  271 

presence  of  the   angels  of  God  over  one   sinner  that  re- 
penteth. 

"A  prodigal  son,  having  spent  all  his  property  in  riotous 
living,  returns  to  his  father's  house,  degraded,  mortified  and 
ruined !  Shall  he  be  rejected  ?  Or  will  not  a  glad  father. 
and  a  sympathising  household,  clothe  him  with  the  best  robe, 
kill  for  him  the  fatted  calf,  and  rejoice  that  he  who  was 
lost  is  found  ?  Would  any  object  to  such  a  display  of  the 
paternal  heart,  unless  it  might  be  a  jealous,  ill  natured, 
self  righteous  brother  ?  And  do  you  find  fault  because  I 
seek  to  turn  sinners  from  destruction  ?  Have  you  no  hu- 
manity to  stimulate,  no  good  sense  to  direct  your  feelings  ? 
Shall  your  heavenly  Father  manifest  less  kindness  than 
his  own  creatures,  or  in  moral  sensibilities,  sink  below  a 
mortal  man?  Be  it  known  unto  you,  that  it  is  not  the  will 
of  your  Father,  which  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of  these  lit- 
tle ones  should  perish, 

"The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  certain  king,  who, 
in  taking  account  of  his  servants,  freely  forgave  a  defaulter 
ten  thousand  talents.  He  had  been  brought  under  the  con- 
demnation of  law  ;  and  himself,  wife  and  children,  and  all 
that  he  had,  were  liable  to  be  sold.  But  he  humbly  sought 
his  lord,  and  was  freely  forgiven.  Such  is  the  nature  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  the  import  of  the  gospel  of 
^race — But  that  same  servant  went  out  and  found  one  of 
iiis  fellow-servants,  who  owed  him  an  hundred  pence. 
Disregarding  the  high  example  which  had  been  set  before 
him,  and  abusing  the  grace  of  which  he  had  been  so  large 
and  welcome  a  recipient,  he  violently  proceeded  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  law.  Prayer,  entreaty,  promises,  appeals 
to  his  compassion,  produced  no  impression  on  his  hard 
heart ;  but  he  cast  his  unfortunate  companion  into  prison, 
and  left  him  to  his  suffe rings,  until  the  debt  should  be  paid. 
But  the  lord  was  wroth,  and  said — '  0  thou  wicked  ser- 
vant, I  forgave  thee  all  that  debt,  because  thou  desiredst  me. 
Shouldest  not  thou  also  have  had  compassion  on  thy  fellow 


27-2  LECTURES  ON 

servant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee  ?  And  the  lord  deliver- 
ed him  to  the  tormentors,  till  he  should  pay  all  that  was 
due  to  him.'  Such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  such  is 
my  Father's  administration:  so  shall  he  do  also  unto  you, 
if  ye  from  your  hearts  forgive  not  every  one  his  tres- 
passes." Thus  would,  and  did,  our  Saviour  reason,  evin- 
cing the  greatest  clemency,  and  the  tenderest  compassion, 
as  characteristic  of  his  mediatorial  commission. 

The  idea,  therefore,  that  God  would  have  been  just  in 
condemning  all  Adam's  posterity  to  eternal  perdition,  and 
for  Adam's  "one  offence,"  falsifies  every  view  of  the  di- 
vine character  which  has  been  given  in  the  scriptures  ;  be- 
longs to  a  system  of  morals  which  would  degrade  even  a 
sinful  man  ;  and  is  reprobated  by  the  Master  as  sheer  wick- 
edness. On  the  other  hand,  free  forgiveness,  a  gracious 
response  to  a  prayer  for  mercy,  and  a  kind  regard  to  every 
good  moral  feeling  which  can  exist  in  a  human  heart — 
when  a  debtor  has  saved  his  moral  character  by  honorably 
doing  all  that  he  had  ability  and  opportunity  to  do — consti- 
tute the  very  mode  of  divine  operation  which  is  embodied 
in  the  gospel,  and  which  invites  human  confidence.  There 
are  "terrors  of  the  Lord"  unquestionably.  Dishonored 
law  and  despised  grace  will  remit  a  man  to  "the  tormen- 
tors." But  how  ministers  of  the  gospel  can  so  far  have 
forgotten  the  benevolence  of  their  high  calling,  and  the 
grace  of  the  gospel  they  preach  ;  how  they  can  consent  to 
merge  what  is  so  good  and  lovely,  so  condescending  and 
kind,  in  continually  uttering  denunciations,  and  throwing 
human  beings  into  such  fearful  paroxysms  of  alarmed  feel- 
ing ;  or  how  they  can  interpret  animal  convulsions  as 
spiritual  exercises,  worthy  of  an  intelligent  being  and  grate- 
ful to  Jehovah,  I  do  not,  and  cannot  perceive.  Assured- 
ly such  proceedings  are  not  sanctioned  by  the  commission 
they  have  received ;  by  the  nature  of  the  message  they  are 
required  to  utter ;  by  any  intelligent  views  of  human  na-r 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  273 

lure  they  can  embrace ;  or  by  any  example,  either  of  the 
Master  or  of  his  apostles,  they  have  ever  read. 

As  a  mediatorial  scheme  may  then  naturally  be  looked 
for,  as  all  its  provisions  must  be  suited  to  the  case  which  is 
to  be  relieved,  and  as  those  provisions  must  be  most  hea- 
venly and  godlike  in  benevolence,  let  us  proceed  with  the 
historian,  and  investigate  the  attributes  of  the  remedial 
system,  which  was  promptly  introduced.  It  is  expressed 
by  God  himself  in  the  following  manner: — "I  will  put 
enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy 
seed  and  her  seed :  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt 
bruise  his  heel."  The  peculiar  phraseology  was  derived 
from  the  transactions  themselves,  as  they  had  just  trans- 
pired ;  and  imported  to  Adam  and  Eve  as  much  as  any 
promise  can  announce  to  us,  although  such  a  promise  may 
appear  to  be  more  lucid  and  expressive,  now  that  we  are 
placed  under  different  circumstances.  A  better  view  could 
not  have  been  given  to  our  first  parents,  nor  a  happier  em- 
blem have  been  selected  than  that  which  the  history  of 
the  literal  serpent  should  transmit  from  age  to  age. 

"The  Seed  of  the  woman"  is  declared  to  be  the  media- 
torial Prince,  who  should  arise  to  achieve  the  redemption 
of  our  race.  From  the  very  first  he  is  described  as  the 
Son  of  God,  and  "the  desire  of  women."  Adam  had 
been  known  as  the  Son  of  God,  but  he  was  made  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground,  and  was  not  "  the  Seed  of  the  woman." 
Christ  was  not  made  of  the  dust,  but  was  "  the  only  begot- 
ten Son  of  God."  This  peculiarity  in  regard  of  his  human 
nature,  is  very  distinctly  asserted  in  both  the  old  and  new 
testaments:  and  its  design  was,  that  he  might  wear  "  the 
likeness  of  sinful  flesh,"  without  having  sinful  flesh:  or 
that  he  might  have  the  nature  into  which  sin  had  intro- 
duced its  baneful  influence,  without  having  the  sin.  If 
he  had  been  a  son  of  a  mortal  father,  both  physiologically 
and  legally  his  flesh  would  have  been  sinful.  Like  Adam 
he  would  have  been  merelv  "a  living  soul."  instead  of  a 


•274  LECTURES  ON 

quickening  spirit.  But  as  God  himself  was  his  Father, 
both  physiologically  and  legally,  his  animal  or  human 
nature  became  qualified  for  the  instrumentality  it  was  in- 
tended to  subserve.  "A  body"  said  he,  "hast  thou^>re- 
pared  me,"  suitable  in  its  constitution  and  temperament 
for  the  great  work  it  was  intended  to  perform.  This  was 
necessary,  according  to  the  views  we  have  advanced  in 
relation  to  the  nature  of  the  paradisiacal  institute,  and  the 
effects  of  the  fall.  And  Paul  says: — "  It  behooved  him  in  all 
things  to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren,  that  he  might  be 
a  merciful  and  faithful  high  priest  in  all  things  pertaining  to 
God. — It  became  him,  for  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom 
are  all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,  to  make 
the  Captain  of  their  salvation  perfect  through  sufferings. — 
Such  an  high  priest  became  us,  who  was  holy,  harmless, 
undented,  separate  from  sinners,  and  made  higher  than 
the  heavens. — We  have  not  an  high  priest  which  cannot  be 
touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities,  but  was  in  all 
points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin"  It  was  in- 
dispensably necessary  that  our  Saviour  should  wear  our 
nature  ;  but  it  was  equally  necessary  that  he  should  be 
without  sin.  This  was  the  great  point  to  be  gained.  His 
being  "the  Seed  of  the  woman,"  while  yet  he  had  no 
mortal  father,  accomplished  the  important  end ;  and  in  a 
way  to  which  no  one  who  understands  the  doctrines  of 
correct  legal  jurisprudence,  or  can  state  an  accurate  and 
consistent  view  of  the  physiology  belonging  to  the  case, 
could  offer  one  rational  or  philosophical  objection. 

As  the  constitution  of  the  mediatorial  person  is  not  an 
arbitrary  matter,  whose  attributes  are  to  be  considered  in- 
dependently of  the  nature  of  the  system  which  is  calling 
for  relief;  the  first  point  which  claims  our  attention  is  the 
application  of  an  original  principle  to  the  case  in  hand. 
Man  has  no  innate  ideas,  but  acquires  his  ideas  by  means 
of  his  corporeal  senses.  Inferring  the  existence  of  a  su- 
preme intelligence  from  the  works  around  him,  and  which 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  275 

are  intended  to  afford,  through  those  senses,  the  evidence 
of  Jehovah's  eternal  power  and  Godhead,  he  naturally 
seeks  after  personal  intercourse  with  Jehovah.  To  meet 
that  desire  and  view,  Jehovah  had  previously  assumed  ex- 
ternal form ;  and  under  this  manifestation  he  is  denomina- 
ted Jehovah-ELOHiM,  or  the  Word.  Man  is  now  fallen. 
According  to  our  argument,  his  bodily  senses  are  impaired. 
Can  he  then  enjoy  that  personal  intercourse  which  his 
nature  demands,  and  if  not,  what  shall  be  done  1  I  answer, 
that '  agreeably  to  the  fact  recorded  in  the  biography  of 
Moses,  man  could  not,  in  his  lapsed  state,  see  the  face  of 
God  and  live.  Either  then  the  whole  doctrine  of  personal 
intercourse  must  be  abandoned,  or  another  manifestation, 
suited  to  man's  present  condition,  must  be  afforded.  Here, 
therefore,  in  the  nature  of  man,  and  in  the  nature  of  his 
circumstances,  arises  the  necessity  for  Christ's  divinity. 
And  if  this  view  be  correct,  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  divini- 
ty— which,  as  you  know,  I  never  for  a  moment  denied — 
is  put  to  rest.  No  man  who  admits  that  our  argument  is 
scriptural  and  conclusive,  can  ever  have  even  a  lingering 
doubt  upon  that  controverted  point ; — in  relation  to  which 
philosophy  and  philology,  reason  and  revelation,  history 
and  authority,  reproach  and  invective,  have  all  been  sum- 
moned and  forced  to  respond  to  the  appeals  of  angry  dis- 
putants :  and  about  which,  after  all  the  controversy,  the 
common  mind  has  not  obtained  one  clear  or  well  defined 
idea  in  reference  to  its  heavenly  principle.  The  spirit  of 
Arius  and  of  the  council  of  Nice,  which  at  an  early  day 
acted  out  a  very  gloomy  tragedy  in  the  name  of  the  Head 
of  the  church,  seems  still  to  superintend  the  angry  conflict. 
Whether  any  thing  can  be  offered  to  reconcile  the  combat- 
ants, prejudiced  and  committed  as  they  are,  is  a  very 
doubtful  matter;  or  rather  men  are  too  sectarian,  and  too 
full  of  the  philosophy  of  other  times,  calmly  or  patiently 
to  judge  of  any  argument  which  is  not  expressed  in  their 
own  technicalities, 


276  LECTURES  ON 

The  necessity  for  a  second  personal  manifestation  of  Je- 
hovah, or  for  an  exact  image  of  his  Person,  having  occur- 
red, he  has  been  pleased,  so  far  as  man  is  concerned,  to 
divest  himself  of  the  form  of  God,  and  to  take  the  form  of 
a  servant;  or  instead  of  exhibiting  himself  as  Jehovah- 
Eloiiim — whom  no  man  can  see  and  live — to  reveal  him- 
self in  Christ,  or  as  the  word  made  flesh.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Mediator  has  been  represented  as  a  divine 
personage,  by  the  old  and  new  testament  writers,  as  wTell  as 
by  his  own  assertions,  before  he  appeared  and  while  he 
was  upon  earth.  The  details  on  this  subject  are  highly 
interesting,  and  the  progress  of  our  discussion  requires  us 
to  pursue  them. 

When  Cain  was  born,  Eve  remarked, — "I  have  gotten 
the  man,  Jehovah  his  very  self."  She  does  not  appear  to 
have  noticed  or  understood  the  peculiarity  of  the  promise, 
as  it  was  afterwards  explained ;  yet  seems  fully  to  have 
understood  the  fact  that  the  deliverer  should  be  divine — 
should  be  Jehovah  himself.  What  was  her  train  of  re- 
flection, or  wherein  the  fallacy  of  her  calculation  con- 
sisted, we  are  not  informed.  But  she  appears  to  have 
cherished  her  mistake  ;  and  to  have  incorporated  it  in  the 
early  habits  of  thinking,  which  she  produced  in  the 
mind  of  her  first-born.  Her  observation-  is  the  only  hint 
given,  from  which  we  can  ascertain  any  reason  for  his 
dereliction.  His  character  betrays  mortified  pride,  and 
disappointed  ambition,  together  with  excited  envy  on  ac- 
count of  his  brother's  higher  promise. — The  case  of  Rebec- 
ca furnishes  an  analagous  fact  in  the  history  of  maternal 
mistakes. 

At  the  close  of  the  scene  when  Abraham  was  required  to 
offer  his  son  in  sacrifice,  he  called  the  name  of  the  spot — 
Jehovah-jireh — saying,  in  this  mountain  Jehovah  shall  be 
seen.  The  deportment  of  the  patriarch,  including  the  con- 
fession of  the  divine  name  which  he  thus  made,  has  been 
celebrated  in  the  scriptures,  as  a  brilliant  specimen  of  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  077 

righteousness  of  faith.  The  situation  in  which  Isaac  was 
placed,  when  bound  on  the  sacrificial  pile,  and  under  the 
uplifted  knife  of  a  beloved  father,  who  was  reposing  all  his 
confidence  in  the  ability  of  "  Almighty  God"  to  raise  his 
son  from  the  dead  ;  the  relief  which  was  granted  when  ano- 
ther victim  was  provided ; — the  whole  matter,  with  all  its  re- 
ferences, forms  a  beautiful  figure  of  the  mediatorial  sys- 
tem, the  patriarchal  faith  in  which  is  so  highly  commended. 
As  Abraham  was  constituted  a  covenant  head,  and  the  heir 
of  the  world ;  as  he  did  become  an  official  head,  under 
whose  auspices  two  subsequent  dispensations  were  erected  ; 
and,  as  in  his.  seed  all  the  families  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed,  there  can  be  no  mistake  in  the  comment  he  makes  ; 
while  the  facts  must  be  considered  as  a  typical  pledge  of 
some  future  and  more  glorious  transaction.  Somewhere  in 
the  development  of  God's  purposes  of  love,  events  must 
transpire,  in  which  this  singular  pledge  should  be  redeemed, 
and  to  which  this  scenic  exhibitionrnost  distinctly  and  hap- 
pily alluded.  Accordingly  the  reference  points  to  the  sa- 
crifice of  the  Son  of  God,  when,  on  mount  Moriah  or  Cal- 
vary, he  appeared  to  take  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  him- 
self. He  with  whom  Abraham  conversed,  and  to  whom  he 
offered  sacrifice,  was  the  angel,  or  messenger  of  Jehovah, 
of  whom  mention  is  frequently  made  ;  and  who  is  described 
as  the  lord,  that  was  afterwards  to  come  into  his  temple. 
On  the  present  occasion  he  said  to  Abraham — "Thou  hast 
not  withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  from  me." 

But  other  facts  occurred  in  the  history  of  this  princely 
patriarch,  as  well  as  in  that  of  his  immediate  successors, 
Isaac  and  Jacob.  When  he  was  "  ninety  years  old  and  nine, 
Jehovah  appeared  unto  him,  and  said  unto  him,  I  am  the 
Almighty  God,  walk  before  me  and  be  thou  perfect." — 
Again  "Jehovah  appeared  unto  him  in  the  plains  of  Mamre : 
and  he  sat  in  the  tent  door  in  the  heat  of  day.  And  he 
lifted  up  his  eyes  and  looked,  and  lo!  three  men  stood  by 
him."  After  this  he  held  a  long  and  familiar  conversation 
Vol.  I.— 24 


278  LECTURES  ON 

with  one  of  these,  who  is  represented  to  have  been  Jeho- 
vah. Moses  was  explicitly  told  by  Jehovah — "  I  appear- 
ed unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob  as,  or  by  the 
name,  or  form,  of  Almighty  God  ;  but  by  my  name,  or 
personal  form  of  Jehovah,  was  I  not  known  unto  them.. 
All  these  appearances  in  the  biography  of  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  were  in  the  form  of  man  ;  and  the  facts  no  pre- 
sumptuousness  can  deny,  nor  ingenuity  fritter  away. 

David  utters  a  remarkable  declaration,  which  is  after- 
wards quoted  by  the  Redeemer  in  elucidation  of  his  own 
official  pretensions  ; — "The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  sit  thou 
at  my  right  hand."  The  term  Lord,  as  it  was  originally 
used,  ever  imported  inferiority  on  the  part  of  him  who  used 
it.  David,  in  using  it,  then  referred  to  the  superiority  of 
him  of  whom  he  spake.  Hence  the  difficulty  which  the 
pharisees  felt  in  answering  the  question — "If  David  in 
spirit  call  him  lord  how  is  he  his  son  ?"  David,  as  the 
king  of  Israel  had  no  superior,  but  the  God  of  Israel. 

Isaiah  describes  a  vision  which  he  enjoyed,  when  the 
royal  magnificence  of  the  heavenly  court  was  spread  out  be- 
fore his  view.  That  which  the  prophet  beheld,  an  apostle 
tells  us,  was  the  glory  of  Christ. 

The  prophet  Malachi  closes  the  old  testament  with  the 
divine  promise — "  Behold,  I  will  send  my  messenger,  and 
he  shall  prepare  the  way  before  me  :  and  the  Lord,  whom 
ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to  his  temple,  even  the  mes- 
senger (angel)  of  the  covenant,  whom  ye  delight  in  :  behold, 
he  shall  come,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts."  Jehovah  here 
proclaims — my  messenger  shall  prepare  the  way  before  me-t— 
the  Lord  is  to  come  into  his  temple— and  the  angel  of  the 
covenant  is  the  Lord,  who  was  to  come.  This  passage  the 
Redeemer  interprets  as  referring  to  John  the  baptist,  who 
came  to  prepare  the  way  of  the  Highest  ;  and  whose 
official  employment,  for  which  he  had  been  specifically  de* 
<?ignated,  was  to  bear  testimony  to  the  Messiah. 

There  is  something  peculiarly  striking,  and  particularly 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT  279 

interesting,  in  this  denomination  which  the  prophet  uses 
in  reference  to  the  Lord  ;  and  which  has  already  occurred 
to  our  notice  in  the  history  of  Abraham.  He  is  called  the 
angel  of  the  covenant ;  which  appellation  might  at  first 
view  detract  from  the  divinity  of  his  person.  But  the  Mo- 
saic dispensation  was  the  administration  of  law,  and  was 
introduced  by  God  under  the  character  of  lawgiver  : — or  in 
the  form  or  name  of  Jehovah.  Was  there  then,  under  the 
Levitical  dispensation,  no  exhibition  of  Jehovah  himself  in 
a  mediatorial  point  of  view  ?  Having  appeared  in  the  form 
of  man  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  the  jews  living, 
not  merely  under  the  Sinaic,  but  also  under  the  Abrahamic 
covenant,  was  this  peculiar  and  important  manifestation 
of  God  entirely  withdrawn  ?  Observe,  the  expression  of 
Malachi  identifies  the  Lord  with  this  angel,  and  calls  him 
the  angel  of  the  covenant.  And  this  fact  can  scarcely 
fail  to  call  up  to  the  recollection  of  the  biblical  reader,  a 
declaration  that  God  made  to  his  people,  which  is  remark- 
able in  itself,  and  at  the  same  time  clearly  explains  the 
matter  in  hand.  "  Behold,"  said  he,  I  send  an  angel  be- 
fore thee,  to  keep  thee  in  the  way,  and  to  bring  thee  into 
the  place  which  I  have  prepared :  beware  of  him,  and  obey 
his  voice,  provoke  him  not ;  for  he  will  not  pardon  your 
transgressions  :  for  my  name  is  in  him."  Again,  the  reader 
of  the  scriptures  will  as  readily  call  up  to  his  recollection, 
a  fact  which  occurred  in  the  history  of  Joshua.  On  some 
occasion,  while  he  "  was  by  Jericho,  he  lifted  up  his  eyes 
and  looked,  and  behold,  there  stood  a  man  over  against  him, 
with  his  sword  drawn  in  his  hand  ;  and  Joshua  went  unto 
him,  and  said  unto  him — Art  thou  for  us,  or  for  our  adver- 
saries ?  And  he  said,  nay,  but  as  captain  of  the  host  of 
Jehovah  am  I  now  come.  And  Joshua  fell  on  his  face  to 
the  earth,  and  did  worship,  and  said  unto  him,  What  saith 
my  Lord  unto  his  servant  ?  And  the  captain  of  Jehovah's 
host  said  unto  Joshua — Loose  thy  shoe  from  off  thy  foot 
for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy."  Here  the  angel — 


280  LECTURES  ON 

whose  official  character  is  that  of  captain— a  term  which} 
you  know,  is  appropriated  to  the  Lord  Jesus — appears  not 
only  as  a  man,  but  acts  as  Jehovah,  in  reminding  Joshua 
that  the  spot  on  which  he  stood  was  holy,  being  consecrated 
by  the  divine  presence.  The  angel,  or  messenger  of  the 
covenant,  who  went  up  before  the  people,  who  consequent- 
ly was  captain,  requiring  all  obedience  to  his  orders,  and 
in  whom  Jehovah's  name  dwelt,  was  then  that  same  Al- 
mighty God,  who  had  appeared  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Ja- 
cob, their  patriarchal  fathers.  It  was  he,  of  whom  the  pro- 
phet Isaiah  predicates  that  same  "  fellow-feeling,"  which 
the  apostle  Paul  ascribes  to  our  great  high-priest,  saying — 
"In  all  their  affliction  he  was  afflicted,  and  the  angel  of 
his  presence  saved  them :  in  his  love  and  in  his  pity  he  re- 
deemed them ;  and  he  bare  them  and  carried  them  all  the 
days  of  old."  Malachi  has  stated  this  subject,  or  penned 
his  prophecy,  in  appropriate  terms,  when  he  says — "  The 
Lord  whom  ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  into  his  temple, 
even  the  messenger  of  the  covenant  whom  ye  de- 
light in." 

If  I  have  not  sufficiently  identified  the  angel  us  being  the 
Lord,  and  well  known  as  such,  I  will  refer  you  to  the  ac- 
count which  Moses  gives  of  his  own  induction  into  the 
apostolic  office.  "  The  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto 
him  in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  a  bush.  And 
when  Jehovah  saw  that  he  turned  aside  to  see,  the  Elo- 
him  called  unto  him  out  of  the  midst  of  the  bush,  and  said 
— I  am  the  Elohim  of  thy  father,  the  Elohim  of  Abraham, 
the  Elohim  of  Isaac,  and  the  Elohim  of  Jacob." — -The  an* 
gel  and  the  Elohim  are  the  same.* 

The  simple  fact,  however,  that  Jehovah  says  concern- 
ing this  angel,  "  My  name  is  in  him,"  ought  to  satisfy  any 
one  who  will  give  due  attention  to  the  use  of  terms.  But 
perhaps,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  observe  again,  that  the  origi- 
nal words  translated  name,  in  hebrew  and  greek,  are  used 

*  See  Lee.  V.  for  fuller  explanation. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT  28 \ 

tbr  the  person  himself,  whom  they  may  be  intended  to  re- 
present. The  name  of  Jehovah  is  accordingly  employed  in 
the  old  testament,  as  a  title  belonging  to  either  manifesta- 
tion. In  the  new  testament  the  Redeemer  prays — "  Glorify 
thy  name,'5  and  commands  his  disciples  to  baptize  "  in  the 
name  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit."  The  term  is  thus 
used  also  for  human  persons ;  as  for  example  : — "The  num- 
ber of  the  names  (persons)  together  were  about  an  hundred 
and  twenty."  "  Thou  hast  a  few  names  (persons)  even 
in  Sardis,  who  have  not  defiled  their  garments."  "And 
in  the  earthquake  were  slain  of  men  (names)  seven  thou- 
sand, and  the  remnant  (of  names,  or  persons)  were  affright- 
ed, and  gave  glory  to  God."*  The  very  fact,  therefore,  that 
Jehovah  remarks  concerning  the  angel,  whose  official  cha- 
racter we  are  considering, — My  name  is  in  him — is  irrefraga- 
ble proof  that  the  mediatorial  manifestation  is  designed  to  be 
expressed  by  the  term. 

To  proceed.  Matthew  takes  up  the  subject,  where  Mai- 
achi  left  it,  and  tells  us,  both  of  the  Messenger  who  should 
prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord  ;  and  of  the  virgin-born  child, 
who  should  be  called  Immanuel,  i.  e.  God  with  us  :  and 
whom  Isaiah  had  declared  should  be  designated  by  the  name 
— Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  mighty  God,  the  ever- 
lasting  father,  the  Prince  of  Peace.  John  fulfils  his 
office  in  pointing  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  the  Highest. 
whose  way  he  came  to  prepare;  who  should  baptize  men  with 
the  Holy  Spirit  ;  and  who  would  thoroughly  purge  his 
floor,  and  gather  his  wheat  into  the  garner,  while  he  would 
burn  up  the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire. 

John,  the  apostle,  says  of  him — "In  the  beginning  the 
Word  was,  and  the  Word  was  with  Jehovah,  and  the 
Word  was  God.  The  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt 
among  us,  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only 

*  See  Parkhurst's  Lex.  either  Heb.  or  Gr.  He  refers  to  Longinus 
as  using  the  greek  terms,  which  would  be  literally  rendered — om 
name  for  one  person. 

24* 


282  LECTURES  Oft 

begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth."  In 
short,  all  the  evangelists  lay  themselves  out  to  demon- 
strate, by  the  details  of  his  own  ministry,  that  he  was  the 
Son  of  God,  in  whom  the  Father  dwelt. 

Jesus  declared  that  the  Father  dwelt  in  him.  He  said, 
— "The  Father  himself,  which  hath  sent  me,  hath  borne 
witness  of  me-  Ye  have  neither  heard  his  voice  at  any 
time,  nor  seen  his  shape.  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the 
Father  in  me  ;  he  that  hath  seen  me,  hath  seen  the  Father ; 
and  how  sayest  thou  then,  show  us  the  Father  ? 

After  he  had  gone  to  his  kingdom,  his  disciples  testified 
concerning  him,  and  proclaimed  his  glory: — "We  were 
eye-witnesses  of  his  Majesty. — In  him  dwelleth  all  the  fuh 
ness  of  the  Godhead  bodily. — He  divested  himself  of  the  form 
of  God,  and  took  the  form  of  a  servant. — God  is  in  Christ 
reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not  imputing  unto  men 
their  trespasses. — All  things  were  made  by  him. — Moses 
was  faithful  in  God's  house  as  a  servant  ;  but  Christ,  as  a 
son,  presided  over  his  own  house. — As  God  entered  into 
rest,  when  he  finished  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  even  so 
Jesus,  having  finished  his  work,  entered  into  his  rest. — 
These,  and  a  thousand  other  like  glorious  declarations  are 
found  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  describing  the  Lord  from 
Heaven,  who  came  down  to  act  as  the  second  Adam  in  the 
form  of  man,  and  to  whom  the  Spirit  was  not  given  by 
measure,  but  on  whom  that  Spirit  descended  in  bodily  shape. 

While  these  views  are  spread  out  at  large  over  the  bible, 
and  belong  to  the  whole  history  of  God's  proceedings  with 
men  since  the  fall,  it  is  curious  to  observe  what  an  abun- 
dance of  like  views  may  be  gathered  from  the  heathen 
world.     I  will  give  you  a  few  of  them. 

"The  ancient  account  seems  to  be  very  true,  and  of  the 
primeval  philosophy,  that,  at  certain  fixed  times,  pure  and 
divine  powers,  for  the  good  of  men,  walk  on  the  earth,  de- 
scending from  heaven;  not  clothed  in  air,  as  Hesiod  speaks, 
but  having  assumed  bodies  similar  to  our  own,  and  having 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  283 

taken  upon  themselves  a  life  inferior  to  their  nature,  for  the 
sake  of  fellowship  with  us."* 

"The  followers  of  Buddha  unanimously  declare,  that  his 
incarnation  in  the  womb  of  a  virgin  was  foretold  several 
thousand  years,  though  some  say  only  one  thousand,  before 
it  came  to  pass. 

"  It  is  declared,  in  the  Vicrama-Charitra,  that  the  birth  of 
a  divine  child,  from  a  virgin,  had  been  foretold  one  thou- 
sand years  before  it  happened ;  nay,  some  say  two  thou- 
sand. The  time  of  his  birth  is  thus  ascertained  from  the 
Lumarica-Chanda,  a  portion  of  the  Scanda-Purana.  When 
three  thousand  and  one  hundred  years  of  the  Cali-Yuga  are 
elapsed ;  then  Saca  will  appear  and  remove  wretchedness 
and  misery  from  the  world.  Saca  is  a  title  of  the  virgin- 
born  Buddha. 

"  Whenever  the  deity  condescends  to  be  born  of  woman. 
the  person  is  one,  but  there  are  two  natures.  To  this  dis- 
tinction we  must  carefully  attend,  in  order  to  reconcile  ma- 
ny seeming  contradictions  in  the  Puranas  ;  and  more  par- 
ticularly so  with  respect  to  Vaivaswata  and  Satyavrata,  who 
are  acknowledged  to  be  but  one  person.  The  divine  na- 
ture is  an  emanation  of  Vishnou  in  his  character  of  the 
Sun  ;  and  Satyavrata  is  the  human  nature.  These  two  na- 
tures often  act  independently  of  each  other,  and  may  exist 
at  the  same  time  in  different  places."! 

"Virgil,  in  his  Pollio,  announces  the  approaching  birth 
of  an  extraordinary  child,  whom  he  decorates  with  all  the 
attributes  of  the  Messiah  of  the  Hebrews.  This  child  was 
to  be  the  high  offspring  of  the  gods,  the  great  seed  of  Jupi- 
ter. When  Julius  Caesar  wished  to  crown  his  greatness  by 
assuming  the  title  of  a  king,  one  of  his  creatures  adduced 
a  prediction  from  the  books  of  the  Sibyl ;  in  which  it  was 

*  Faber's  Dispensations,  vol.  1.  p.  305. 

f  Faber's  Dispensations,  vol.  i.  pp.  311 — 12,  who  refers  to  Asiatic 
"Researches,  vol.  x.  pp.  27 — 46,  47,  and  vol.  vi.  pp.  479. 


284  LECTURES  ON 

foretold  that  a  prince  was  to  arise  about  that  time,  whose' 
monarchy  should  be  universal,  and  whose  government 
would  be  essential  to  the  happiness  of  the  world.  Cicero 
freely  admits  that  the  prophecy  in  question  was  actually  to 
be  found  in  the  sybilline  oracles."* 

Much  more  might  be  readily  advanced,  and  of  the  same 
general  character,  from  the  mythology  of  the  heathen,  The 
simple  fact,  however,  when  it  is  thus  proved,  answers  my 
purpose.  And  the  whole  view  shows,  that  it  was  God 
himself  who  assumed  a  human  form,  and  descended  to 
bless  mankind,  as  their  Saviour.  And  if  there  has  been  no 
evidence  that  the  second  person  of  the  trinity,  as  he  has 
been  termed,  thus  descended,  there  has  been  none  to  evince 
that  the  Saviour,  in  his  divine  character,  was  any  other  than 
God  himself.  Nor  can  any  one,  who  has  given  himself 
time  to  understand  the  theory  I  have  advanced,  find  the 
least  room  to  charge  it  with  a  tendency,  either  to  tritheism, 
or  to  any  of  the  popular  forms  in  which  unitarianism  has  in 
vain  solicited  the  credence  of  mankind. 

But  the  necessities  of  human  nature,  under  the  deterio- 
rating consequences  of  Adam's  sin,  called  for  more  than  a 
manifestation,  or  an  "exact  image"  of  Jehovah's  person. 
Adam  had  not  only  introduced  sin  and  death  into  the  world, 
but  he  had  forfeited  his  official  character  as  their  social 
head;  and  had  defrauded  his  children  of  that  "ministration  of 
righteousness"  which,  in  his  official  character,  and  for  their 
benefit,  he  should  have  wrought  out.  It  was  intended  that 
his  righteousness,  by  securing  temporal  life  and  all  its  ac- 
companying blessings,  should  exhibit  to  his  children  the 
connexion  between  righteousness  and  life,  in  view  of  their 
personal  responsibility  to  the  law  "written  on  their  hearts." 
Such  an  exhibition  was  indispensably  necessary,  consider- 
ing the  peculiarity  of  the  human  constitution ;  or  that  the 

*  See  Faber's  Horae  Mosaics,  vol.  i.  pp.  78—80.  Horsely's  Diss, 
on  Heathen  Prophecies,  pp.  15—20.  Leslies'  short  method  with  the 
jews.     Work.  Fol.  vol.  1    p.  47 — 50. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  285 

spirit  of  man  acquires  its  ideas  through  the  medium  of  the 
bodily  senses.  Of  the  influence  of  such  official  character 
and  action,  we  have  ample  and  melancholy  proof  in  the 
general  depravity  of  mankind.  A  remedial  scheme  must 
take  up  this  great  law  of  human  nature,  and  the  Mediator 
must  furnish  this  "ministration  of  righteousness."  Ac- 
cordingly Jehovah-ELOHiM,  or  the  Word,  assumed  the  form 
of  a  servant,  was  found  in  the  fashion  of  a  man ;  and  this 
official  personage,  being  made  under  the  law,  became  obe- 
dient unto  death,  that  he  might  "bring  in  everlasting  right- 
eousness." 

For  this  general  object,  he  became  "  the  Seed  of  the  wo- 
man," thus  wearing  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh  :  but  as  he 
had  no  earthly  father,  a  body  being  prepared  for  him  by  Je- 
hovah, who  is  hence  called  his  heavenly  Father,  he  had 
not  sinful  flesh.  The  end  designed  to  be  accomplished  by 
all  this  careful  preparation  of  his  exterior  form  was,  that  he 
might  be  an  official  agent,  or  a  social  head,  such  as  the  law 
had  made  Adam.  For  this  reason  he  was,  as  Adam  was, 
emphatically  the  Son  of  God  ;  though  different  from  Adam 
in  this,  that  he  (the  man  Christ)  was  the  only  begotton  Son 
of  God.  Hence  he  was  called  the  second  Adam,  and  is 
declared  superior  to  Adam,  in  that  he  was  a  quickening  spi- 
t-it;  having  all  life  in  himself  as  given  to  him  by  his  Father. 
Thus  Adam  is  declared  to  be  the  figure  of  Christ:  and  the 
principle  of  official  action  is  distinctly  defined  to  be,  that 
— as  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive : 
or  that — "  as  by  the  offence  of  one,  judgment  came  upon  all 
men  to  condemnation ;  even  so  by  the  righteousness  of  one. , 
the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  unto  justification  of  life." 
Adam  had  forfeited  his  official  dignity :  a  chasm  was  ac- 
cordingly created,  which,  under  a  remedial  system  devel- 
oped on  the  same  principle  with  the  original  institute,  must 
be  filled  up,  either  by  restoring  that  lost  dignity  to  Adam,  or 
by  conferring  it  on  another.  It  was  conferred  on  another. 
Adam  having  become  utterly  incompetent,  as  the  formation 


2S6  LECTURES  ON 

of  Christ's  human  body  abundantly  manifests ;  and  there- 
fore Christ  is  introduced  as  the  second  Adam. 

It  is  worthy  of  our  attention,  that  the  first  Adam  was  form- 
ed immediately  by  Jehovah-Elohim.  The  strict  analogy, 
it  would  therefore  seem,  requires  that  Christ,  as  the  second 
Adam,  should  have  a  similar  descent.  To  reprobate  the 
birth  of  Christ,  is  about  as  philosophical  as  it  would  be  to 
deny  the  origin  of  the  first-man. 

The  political  analogy  equally  demands,  that  the  fact  of 
Christ's  birth  should  be  as  the  scriptures  have  described  it. 
Who  should  be  "the  Heir  of  all  things"  but  Jehovah's 
Son?  If  then  Christ  is  indeed  "  Lord  over  all,"  and  if  the 
political  relation  between  the  Father  and  the  Son  includes 
the  idea  of  inheritance,  both  of  which  the  bible  unequi- 
vocally affirms ;  then,  if  you  deny  the  peculiarity  of  the 
Redeemer's  birth,  you  are  bereaved  of  an  appropriate — 
of  the  only — external  symbol  of  the  great  political  trans- 
action by  which  the  Redeemer  is  constituted  Lord.  And 
yet,  by  such  symbols,  which  the  nature  of  man  makes  im- 
periously necessary,  God  has  represented  every  other  great 
truth  to  the  human  mind. 

I  know  not  whether  any  of  you  may  have  adopted  the 
Swedenborgian  idea,  that  God  had  assumed  simply  a  human 
body,  without  having  a  human  spirit ;  or  whether  you  might 
not  suppose  that  the  argument,  as  far  as  it  has  been  pursued, 
involves  that  idea.  It  forms,  however,  no  part  of  my  spe- 
culations. Christ  is  most  unequivocally  declared  to  be  a 
man,  and  is,  in  so  many  words,  called  the  man  Christ  Jesus. 
— "  There  is  one  God,  and  one  Mediator  between  God  and 
men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus.  He  hath  appointed  a  day,  in 
the  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness,  by 
that  man  whom  he  hath  ordained:"  He  could  not  be  a 
man,  if  he  had  not  a  human  spirit;  he  could  not  speak  of 
himself  separate  from  the  Father,  as  he  does,  if  he  had  no 
human  spirit;  his  historians  could  not  portray  the  extend- 
ing operations  of  his  mind,  growing  in  wisdom  as  he  ad- 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  287 

vanced  to  manhood,  as  they  do ;  nor  could  he  refer  to  his 
own  distinct  intellectual  operations,  as  he  does,  when  he 
says — "As  I  hear  I  judge" — or  when  he  says,  "Of  that 
day  and  hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the  angels  which 
are  in  heaven,  neither  the  Son,"  if  he  had  no  human  spi- 
rit; nor  could  he  be  the  second  Adam,  a  social  head  to  the 
human  family,  if  he  had  no  human  spirit. 

But  on  the  supposition  that  our  spirits  are  derived  from 
our  earthly  parent,  how  could  Christ  be  a  man  at  all  ?  Fol- 
lowing up  the  subject  physiologically,  from  its  beginnings 
in  other  parts  of  the  material  world,  we  have  nothing  more 
called  for  than  a  philosophical  view  of  a  more  intricate  or 
complex  material  organization  ;  and  theologically,  nothing 
else  is  required,  but  to  show  how  he  could  have  human 
flesh,  without  having  sinful  flesh.  If  there  should  exist  in 
the  material  world  any  thing  analogous  to  that  which  is  dis- 
played in  the  intellectual  world,  and  which  constitutes  the 
man  the  legal,  or  official,  head  ;  then  this  whole  matter  is 
fairly  and  fully  met  by  the  declaration,  that  Christ  was  "the 
Seed  of  the  woman."  Hence  it  is  that,  in  speaking  of  his 
human  descent,  his  spirit  is  not  referred  to  at  all ;  but  as 
his  spirit,  like  all  other  human  spirits,  was  derived  directly 
from  God,  the  peculiarity  of  his  body  turns  upon  the  fact 
that  it  was  not  sinful  flesh: — "  That  holy  thing  which  shall 
be  bom  of  thee,  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God."  The 
question  in  this  connexion,  never  involves  his  spirit ;  and 
simply  because  unholiness  of  spirit  is  a  matter  belonging 
to  individual  action  and  personal  responsibility,  The  sin- 
gular manner  in  which  the  subject  is  represented  in  the 
scriptures,  together  with  an  analogy  between  the  material 
and  intellectual  world,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  is  the 
basis  of  my  idea.  I  know  not  how  physiologists  in  gene- 
ral may  estimate  it ;  but  they  must  pardon  me,  if  I  think 
of  my  bible  more  highly  than  I  do  of  their  conjectures ; 
and  refer  them  to  its  pages,  rather  than  to  their  systems. 

The  theology  of  the  world  is  never  very  widely  different 


288  LECTURES  ON 

from  its  philosophy.  How  should  it  be,  when  ecclesiastic 
calmen  occupy  the  chairs  of  science,  and  literary  men  alone 
are  considered  competent  to  occupy  our  pulpits  ?  Multi- 
tudes may  affect  to  laugh  at  philosophy  ;  but  in  spite  of 
them  their  philosophy  will  control  their,  theology,  or  their 
theology  will  control  their  philosophy.  It  must  be  so.  For 
both  are  concerned  with  God's  works.  Creation  and  the 
bible  are  like  to  each  other.  The  heavens  and  the  earth 
conspire  with  the  scriptures  to  declare  the  glory  of  God. 
A  revolution  occurring  in  the  one,  will  bring  necessarily  a 
revolution  in  the  other ;  or,  if  philosophy  should  advance 
while  moral  science  still  doles  out  the  prejudices  and  dog- 
mas of  past  ages,  it  is  no  wonder  that  an  uproar  should  be 
heard,  and  that  theologians  should  tremble  under  their  own 
prognostics  of  growing  infidelity. — But  my  object  was,  as 
to  the  subject  before  us,  to  refer  physiologists  to  the  bible  : 
for  the  bible  is  strictly  philosophical,  whatever  the  systems 
of  its  admirers  may  be. 

Thus  qualified,  or  his  mediatorial  person  being  thus  con- 
stituted, the  Redeemer  enters  on  his  benevolent  enterprise. 
His  apostolic  character  had  been  prefigured  by  that  of 
Moses,  who  "  was  faithful  in  all  God's  house  :"  or,  who 
was  not  merely  a  prophet,  but  concentred  all  authority  in 
his  own  commission  ;  and  whose  influence  was  felt  in  eve- 
ry part  of  the  ecclesiastical  establishment  that  he  was 
employed  to  erect.  Hence  it  is  said",  when  Jehovah  would 
illustrate  his  official  importance — "  With  him  I  will  speak 
mouth  to  mouth,  even  apparently,  and  not  in  dark  speeches; 
and  the  similitude  of  the  Lord  shall  he  behold"  So  Christ. 
Of  him  it  is  said,  "  No  man  hath  seen  God  :  the  only  be- 
gotten Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath 
declared  him  ;"  and  he  was  faithful  to  him  that  appointed 
him,  as  also  Moses  was."  But  then  Christ  Jesus  "was 
counted  worthy  of  more  glory  than  Moses,  inasmuch  as  he 
who  hath  builded  the  house  hath  more  honor  than  the  house" 
The    Creator  hath  more  glory  than  the  creature.     "  For 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  289 

every  house  is  builded  by  some  man ;  but  he  that  built  all 
things  is  God.  And  Moses  verily  was  faithful  in  all  his 
house  as  a  servant  ; — but  Christ  as  a  son  over  his  own 
house."  Hence  Jehovah  says  to  him — "  Thy  throne,  O 
God,  is  for  ever  and  ever  : — Thou,  Lord,  in  the  beginning 
hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth,  and  the  heavens  are 
the  works  of  thy  hand."  As  the  "  appointed  heir  of  all 
things,  by  whom  the  worlds  were  made,"  he  enters  on  his 
remedial  embassy — the  brightness  of  glory,  and  the  exact 
image  of  God's  person — the  character — the  image — 
the  visible  representation  of  Jehovah  in  the  form  of 
God. 

In  this  official  character,  which  is  so  general,  all  autho- 
rity, which  in  a  system  of  types  has  been  parcelled  out 
among  many  individuals,  devolves  upon  the  Son  alone. 
Hence,  in  the  discharge  of  his  mediatorial  work,  he  is  Pro- 
phet, Priest,  and  King.  Summing  up  all  as  a  social  head 
of  the  race,  he  was  more  gloriously  prefigured  by  j^vm  : 
— He  declares  his  Father  to  the  human  family ;  on  his 
righteousness  the  whole  divine  administration  is  conducted  ; 
and  he  exercises  dominion  over  the  whole  system.  Rising 
superior  to  Adam,  and  carrying  out  a  remedial  principle 
commensurate  with  the  whole  exigency  which  had  occur- 
red, he  is  "the  image  of  the  invisible  God" — a  manifesta- 
tion of  Jehovah  himself,  like  that  which  had  been  origi- 
nally afforded  when  man  was  created — the  divine  Lord, 
the  Lord  from  heaven.  And  all  is  sustained  in  his  person 
and  work,  with  the  most  perfect  consistency,  and  in  a  man- 
ner precisely  suited  to  our  present  character  and  condition. 
Hence  he  speaks  of  himself  in  the  following  language  :— 
"The  Son  can  do  nothing  of  himself,  but  what  he  seeth 
the  Father  do :  for  what  things  soever  he  doeth,  these 
also  doeth  the  Son  likewise.  For  the  Father  loveth  the 
Son,  and  showeth  him  all  things  that  himself  doth.  For 
as  the  Father  raiseth  up  the  dead,  and  quickeneth  them, 
even  so  the  Son  quickeneth  whom  he  will.  For  the  Fa- 
Vol.  I.— 25 


090  LECTURES  ON 

ther  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment 
unto  the  Son  :  that  all  men  should  honor  the  Son,  even 
as  they  honor  the  Father.  He  that  honoreth  not  the 
Son,  honoreth  not  the  Father  which  hath  sent  him." 

I  know  not  how  to  speak  of  the  beloved  Saviour,  with 
more  heavenly  conceptions,  in  distincter  terms,  or  in  loftier 
phrase.  The  ideas  and  language  have  alike  been  taken 
from  the  scriptures,  and  are  utterly  inadmissible  in  a  de- 
scription of  a  mere  creature,  or  of  any  one  less  than  God 
himself.  At  the  same  time,  I  cannot  imagine  how  a  re- 
medial system,  intended  to  relieve  the  described  and  the 
visible  condition  of  mankind,  so  far  as  the  official  character 
of  the  Mediator  is  concerned,  should  be  presented  in  more 
suitable  form. 


LECTURE  X. 


Difficulties  stated — Redeemer's  prayers — The  delivering  of 
the  kingdom  to  the  Father,  when  the  end  shall  come —  Of- 
ficial analogies — Redeemer's  prayers — Spirit  and  its  va- 
ried operations,  in  application  of  the  views  developed  in 
Lecture  V. 

The  subject  of  the  mediatorial  character  and  relations, 
as  they  are  spread  out  over  the  inspired  pages,  and  which 
cannot  fail  to  interest,  at  least,  every  philosophical  moralist, 
is  entitled  to  farther  elucidation.  There  are  various  diffi- 
culties which  have  not  yet  been  removed,  and  which  will 
readily  occur  to  every  reader  of  the  scriptures.  They  are 
no  doubt,  even  now,  pressing  with  great  weight  on  your 
minds ;  and  you  see  not  how  they  can  be  removed  on  any 
hypothesis.     But  let  us  pursue  our  investigations.      We 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  291 

have  been  sustained  thus  far,  and  may  venture,  with  a  good 
share  of  confidence,  to  proceed  farther. 

Christ,  it  is  said,  prays  to  his  Father;  and  this  may  be 
supposed  to  be  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  his  di- 
vinity. 

But  why  should  he  not  pray  to  his  Father  ?  May  not  the 
man  Christ  Jesus  pray  to  his  Father  ?  Even  in  view  of 
the  mediatorial  personage,  of  which  both  natures  are  af- 
firmed; where  is  the  alleged  impropriety?  When  David 
calls  upon  his  own  soul  to  bless  the  Lord,  does  he  not  use  a 
phrase  of  which  similar  impropriety  might  be,  and  yet  is 
not,  asserted? — But  above  all,  does  it  not  belong  to  Christ's 
official  work  to  fulfil  all  righteousness  1  and  may  I  not  ex- 
plain his  prayer,  as  he  explained  his  baptism  to  his  forerun- 
ner ?  Might  you  not  as  well  ask  me,  why  he  did  any  thing 
in  human  nature,  or  why  he  was  made  like  unto  his  brethren 
in  all  things,  and  why  he  learned  obedience  by  the  things 
which  he  suffered  ?  Or  rather,  may  I  not  ask  any  one  who 
objects  to  his  divinity,  why  he  should  not  pray,  when  all 
round  his  humanity  is  unhesitatingly  admitted  r1 

But,  it  will  be  replied,  his  prayer  was  so  peculiar :  for 
he  said,  "Father,  glorify  thou  me,  with  thine  own  self,  with 
the  glory  which  I  had  with  thee,  before  the  world  was." — 
Well  what  was  this  glory  ?  Was  it  not  that  which  belonged 
to  him  as  the  Lord,  seated  on  the  throne,  having  all 
power,  and  governing  all  things  ?  Was  it  not  God,  as  mani- 
fested in  the  form  of  God,  or  Jehovah-Elohim,  who  was  re- 
cognised as  Lord  ;  because  that  man,  from  his  constitu- 
tion, could  not  perceive  pure  spirit  ?  And  did  he  not,  as 
thus  manifested,  the  Lord,  lay  aside,  so  far  as  sinful  man  is 
concerned,  the  form  of  God,  and  take  the  form  of  man? 
Does  he  not  pray  then,  that  his  Father  would  clothe  him 
with  that  glory,  confer  upon  him  that  power,  and  demon- 
strate him  to  be  entrusted  with  that  lordship,  which  men 
were  thus  originally  called  to  recognise  ?  And  is  not  this 
identity  every  where  asserted  ?  Was  it  not  the  Word,  which 


292  LECTURES  ON 

was  in  the  beginning  with  God,  and  which  was  Goif, 
that  was  afterwards  made  flesh  ? 

Again.  We  have  had  frequent  opportunities  of  noticing 
the  peculiar  force  of  the  scriptural  term  name,  as  applied 
to  God  : — the  name  Jehovah — the  name  Almighty  God— 
the  name  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit— my  name  is  in  him. 
Accordingly,  in  connexion  with  the  prayer  under  consr- 
deration,  Jesus  remarks — "I  have  manifested  thy  name 
unto  the  men  which  thou  gavest  me."  And  elsewhere  he 
prays — "  Father  glorify  thy  name."  The  prayer  corres- 
ponds with  the  subsequent  fact,  which  Peter  expressed 
with  so  much  point  and  beauty,  when  he  said — "Let  all 
the  house  of  Israel  know  assuredly,  that  God  hath  made 
that  same  Jesus,  whom  ye  have  crucified,  both  Lord  and 
Christ."  And  as  such  he  is  set  forth,  according  to  his 
prayer,  when  in  his  church,  and  at  his  altars,  men  are  bap- 
tized "in  the  name  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit. — You 
might  then  as  well  ask  me,  why  he  prayed  at  all  ? 

In  what  way,  it  will  be  farther  demanded,  does  Christ 
sit  at  the  right  hand  of  Jehovah,  on  the  throne  of  hea- 
ven ? — In  reply  to  this  question,  I  would  ask  you  to  remem- 
ber, that  when  God  was  originally  manifested  in  the  form 
of  God,  he  was  so  manifested  both  to  angels  and  men. 
This  view  of  our  subject,  you  recollect,  was  distinctly 
stated  in  the  argument  on  the  Elohim  ;  and  it  may  now  be 
fully  impressed  on  your  mind  by  quoting  the  declaration  of 
our  Redeemer,  concerning  angels : — "They  do  always," 
said  he,  "behold  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in  hea- 
ven." All  the  language  on  the  subject  deserves  particu- 
lar attention.  "The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  sit  thou 
on  my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  foot- 
stool."— "  The  Son  having  by  himself  purged  our  sins,  sat 
down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high." — He 
said  himself — "  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the 
right  hand  of  power:" — "It  is  manifest  that  he  is  ex- 
cepted, who  did  put  all  things  under  him." — At  first  there 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  293 

was  a  single  personal  manifestation  of  God,  to  occupy  the 
throne  as  Lord,  But  a  second  personal  manifestation,  or 
that  which  should  be  an  image,  appropriate  and  exact 
enough  to  answer  the  same  purpose,  has  become  neces- 
sary, and  he,  who  thus  appears,  is  made  both  Lord  and 
Christ.  As  Lord  and  Christ  this  second  manifestation,  this 
"  exact  image"  of  Jehovah's  Person,  or  of  Jehovah- 
Elohim,  is  now  exhibited  on  the  throne,  and  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  original  manifestation.  Hence  David's  lan- 
guage— The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord  ;  and  hence  the 
position  occupied  is  described  as  the  right  hand  of  Majes- 
ty, or  the  personal  dignity  and  glorious  display  of  God  as 
manifested  to  his  creatures.  Or,  Jehovah  having,  for  cer- 
tain purposes,  taken  the  form  of  man,  in  that  form  he  has 
gone  to  the  throne  ;  which  throne  he  had  from  the  begin- 
ning occupied  in  the  form  of  God — having  assumed  form 
in  both  cases,  for  the  government  of  his  creatures.  As 
Lord  in  the  mediatorial  form,  he  sits  down  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  previous  exhibition  he  had  made  of  himself, 
as  Lord  in  the  form  of  God.  And  can  any  reason  be  as- 
signed, why  he  should  not  occupy  the  throne,  or  be  mani- 
fested in  both  forms  at  the  same  time  ?  Is  there  any  incon- 
gruity, or  was  David  inaccurate,  when  he  observed — "  The 
Lord  said  unto  my  Lord." 

This  double  exhibition,  each  having  its  own  distinct  offi- 
cial relations,  and  sustaining  those  relations  wTith  the  most, 
exact  consistency,  shall  continue  the  luminous,  but  varied, 
manifestations  of  godhead,  while  the  necessity  in  which 
they  originated  shall  remain.  But  a  change  is  contem- 
plated ;  for  our  mediatorial  Lord  is  invited  to  the  throne 
until — until  all  his  enemies  are  put  under  his  feet ;  thus 
long,  says  Paul — please  turn  to  the  first  epistle  to  the  Co- 
rinthians— thus  long  "he  must  reign.  Then  cometh 
the  end,  when  he  shall  have  put  down  all  rule,  and  all  au- 
thority and  power."  The  purposes  of  the  mediatorial  mani- 
festation, for  which  the  Word  divested  himself  of  the 
25* 


294  LECTURES  ON 

form  of  God,  and  took  the  form  of  man,  shall  be  all  accom- 
plished : — which  being  done,  the  end  has  come.  What 
shall  occur  then,  when,  the  object  of  this  mediatorial  mani- 
festation being  secured,  its  necessity  shall  cease  ;  and  we 
shall  be  qualified  to  do  that  which  by  the  fall  we  are  incom- 
petent to  do — i.  e.  to  see  God  as  he  is  ?  The  apostle  informs 
us  that  Christ  shall  then  deliver  up  the  kingdom  to  God, 
even  the  Father.  Of  course  the  Mediator  shall  reign  no 
longer,  or  shall  be'  no  longer  Lord.  The  Word,  who  had 
assumed  the  form  of  man  while  we  were  unable  to  see 
God,  will  reappear  to  man  in  the  form  of  God.  Then  we 
shall  be  made  competent  to  see  God  ;  and  instead  of  a 
manifestation  in  the  form  of  man,  God  manifested  "in  the 
form  of  God,"  or,  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  the  Word 
which  was  with  God,  and  which  was  God,  shall  be  all 
and  in  all. — The  Father  dwelleth  in  the  Word.  And,  if 
we  were  at  liberty  to  suppose,  that  a  time  might  arrive 
when  all  God's  intelligent  creatures  should  be  annihilated, 
it  would  in  that  case  be  consistent  to  aver,  that  Jehovah 
would  lay  aside  the  form  of  God,  as  no  longer  necessary. 
Jehovah  would  no  longer  subsist  in  person,  or  as  Jeho- 
vah-Elohim.  But  such  an  end  is  not  contemplated — 
angels  and  men  are  immortal. 

What  then  becomes  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus?  Why 
adds  the  apostle — Then  shall  the  Son — then  shall  the  Son 
also — then  shall  the  Son  also  himself,  be  subject  to  him 
who  put  all  things  under  him,  and  who  manifestly  was  ex- 
cepted, when  all  things  were  thus  put  under  him.  The 
consequence  of  this  subjection  of  the  Son  is,  that  God 
shall  be  all  and  in  all. — The  Son  is  here  spoken  of 
as  that  one  who  says  of  himself — "  I  can  of  mine  own  self 
do  nothing:" — "the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  I  speak 
not  of  myself ;  but  the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth 
the  works."  The  distinction  between  the  Father  and  the 
Son  is  thus  most  unequivocally  asserted;  and  when  the 
end  cometh,  that  distinction  shall  be  visibly  displayed  as  it 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  295 

is  not  now.  The  Son  is  at  present  on  the  throne  ;  but  then 
the  distinction  shall  be  visible ;  for  God,  even  the  Father, 
shall  be  all  and  in  all,  while  the  Son  himself  shall  be  sub- 
ject. 

But  still  it  may  be  inquired,  what  shall  be  the  future  re- 
lations of  the  Son  ? — All  things  shaj.1  be  brought  back  to 
their  original  condition  of  government,  when  the  mediato- 
rial kingdom  shall  be  at  an  end ;  or  they  shall  be  consum- 
mated as  they  would  have  been  if  Adam  had  not  eaten  the 
forbidden  fruit.  The  human  family  as  they  shall  then  ap- 
pear in  heaven — the  righteous  who  shall  go  away  into  ever- 
lasting life — shall  be  recognised  in  their  own  peculiar  as- 
sociation. But  where  is  their  Head  ?  Adam  had  forfeit- 
ed that  dignity  by  transgression.  And  on  whom  should  it 
devolve,  but  on  the  second  Adam,  who  had  been  their  Re- 
deemer? Hence  Paul  says,  when  speaking  of  our  family 
organization — "I  would  have  you  know,  that  the  head  of 
every  man  is  Christ;  and  the  head  of  the  vjoman  is  the 
man;  and  the  head  of  Christ  is  God." 

If  my  remarks  be  somewhat  more  bold  than  those  which 
you  have  been  accustomed  to  hear;  and  if  they  seem  to 
convert  that  which  you  have  been  wont  to  consider  as  an 
inscrutable  mystery,  into  a  very  plain  matter ;  perhaps  you 
may  feel  your  mind  perfectly  reconciled,  by  recollecting 
that  he,  who  laid  aside  the  form  of  God  so  far  as  man  is 
concerned,  while  yet  in  that  form  he  retained  other  rela- 
tions, may  also  lay  aside  the  form  of  man ,  while  the  rela- 
tions of  that  form  of  man,  or  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  and 
as  such,  are  in  no  way  affected.  If  you  are  not  perfectly 
reconciled  to  this  view,  it  may  not  be  amiss  for  you  to  turn 
to  the  commentators,*  and  observe  their  ideas  and  their 
perplexity.  They  will  tell  you,  that  Christ  as  man,  like 
the  saints  and  angels,  will  be  subject  to  the  Father;  and 
immediately  enter  into  collision  with  "the  Jlrians,  who  af- 
firm,  that  if  this  had  been  the  apostle's  meaning,  he  would 

*  Scott,  Henry,  Whitby,  McKnight,  Locke,  Guyse. 


296  LECTURES  ON 

have  said,  then  shall  even  Jesus  himself  be  subjected"  But 
they  think  the  whole  argument  of  the  apostle  to  be  exceed* 
ingly  obscure.  And  no  wonder;  for  they  go  on  to  say,  that 
— the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  shall  in  union  govern 
all  things :  and,  that  notwithstanding  the  apostle  says,  that 
the  Son  shall  be  subject.  Their  error  lies  in  their  idea,  that 
the  distinction  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  is  in  god- 
head itself  ;  which  idea,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
cannot  be  correct.  The  distinction  exists  in  the  manifes- 
tation which  God  makes,of  himself.  Their  doctrine  is 
unquestionably  maintained  from  the  best  motives,  and  with 
the  view  of  elucidating  the  divinity  and  personality, 
which  they  suppose  to  be  indubitably  predicated  in  the  scrip- 
tures, of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  But  those  points 
can  be  better  explained  without  their  doctrine  ;  as  may  ap- 
pear very  intelligibly  to  any  mind  that  has  candor  enough, 
and  will  take  time  enough,  to  consider  the  scriptural  state- 
ments. 

But  this  whole  subject  may  be  presented  in  another  and 
perhaps  better  light.  The  illustrations  offered  in  the  fifth 
lecture  afford  us  a  fair  opportunity  of  varying  the  argu- 
ment. Man  is  described  in  the  scriptures  as  having  "spi- 
rit, and  soul,  and  body  ;"  and  these  were  considered  by  an- 
cient physiologists  as  constituting  the  human  hypostasis 
or  person.  God  ascribes  all  these  to  himself,  and  frequent- 
ly speaks  of  his  Soul,  in  his  addresses  to  the  people  of  Israel; 
while  Paul  speaks  of  the  divine  hypostasis  or  person,  of 
which  he  declares  the  Son  to  be  "the  exact  image."  Now 
whether  you  consider  that  there  was  a  divine  person,  or 
that  all  such  expressions  must  be  interpreted  as  mere  figures 
of  speech,  as  being  used  out  of  mere  condescension  and 
without  any  reference  to  substantial  symbols,  still  some 
meaning  must  be  intended.  If,  on  the  Socinian  principle 
of  explaining  plural  nouns  and  pronouns,  verbs  and  adjec- 
tives, when  applied  to  Jehovah,  you  consider  the  term  Soul 
to  be  merely  "borrowed"  from  the  physiology  of  the  hu- 
man person  for  illustration,  yet  it  must  be  borrowed  on  ao- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  297 

count  of  some  valuable  idea  it  would  convey ;  and  must 
be  interpreted  consistently  with  that  physiology.  If  so,  let 
me  ask  whether  a  father  can  give  his  soul  to  his  son  ?  or, 
if  that  can  be  supposed,  would  not  then  the  individuality 
of  the  father  be  entirely  lost,  or  his  personal  subsistence  be 
merged  in  that  of  the  Son?  Such  an  hypothesis,  you  per- 
ceive, is  utterly  inadmissible.  It  will  therefore  follow,  that 
if  the  term  soul  be  applied  to  Jehovah  consistently  with 
its  own  meaning,  God  cannot  give  his  soul  to  his  "  only  be- 
gotten Son,"  without  destroying  that  individuality  of  sub- 
sistence which  has  been  denominated  the  Logos  or  Word. 
And  if  this  cannot  be,  the  exaltation  of  the  Mediator  can 
in  no  way  imply  an  impropriety,  in  that  the  original  per- 
son— Jehovah-Elohim— occupies  the  throne.  How  can  it 
be  otherwise  than  that  he  should  ?  The  individuality  is 
distinctly  preserved. 

The  fact  in  the  case  is,  that  soul,  viewed  as  the  Soul  of 
God,  never  is  predicated  of  the  Mediator.  You  always 
hear  of  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelling  in  Christ  Jesus,  and 
you  hear  abundantly  of  his  divine  qualifications  in  that  re- 
spect. Whenever  soul  is  spoken  of  in  relation  to  "the 
man  Christ  Jesus,"  it  is  always  a  human  soul.  If  he  had 
not  been  a  man,  as  the  scriptures  have  described  him  to  be, 
or  if  he  did  not  possess  a  human  soul,  then  the  Spirit  of  Je- 
hovah dwelling  in  him  would  or  might  have  been  his  Soul : 
and  he  should  thereby  have  become  a  second  divine  hy- 
postasis or  person.  Either  then  the  original  Person, 
which  was  in  the  beginning,  would  have  ceased  to  subsist, 
or  we  should  have  two  Gods  :  i.  e.  we  should  have  two  dis- 
tinct individual  subsistences  or  persons.  But  while  the 
inspired  writers  describe  the  Father  and  the  Son,  they 
never  speak  of  more  than  one  divine  hypostasis  or  Person. 
Their  language  goes  as  far  as  the  subject  will  allow  them 
to  go,  and  the  provisions  they  proclaim  are  extended  as  far 
as  the  nature  of  the  case  will  admit ;  but  they  never  do  call 
the  Mediator  a  divine  hypostasis  or  person.     They  say 


298  LECTURES  ON 

the  Mediator  is  "  God  manifested  in  the  flesh,"  and  that  "in 
him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  godhead  bodily;"  but 
they  also  say  that  he  is  "the  exact  image"  of  Jehovah's 
hypostasis  or  Person.  Other  images  or  representatives  have 
been  proclaimed,  for  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelt  in  the  pro- 
phets; but  he  is  "the  exact  image."  His  body  was  a  hu- 
man body,  and  was  tenanted  by  a  human  spirit ;  if  it  had 
not  been  so,  it  would  have  been,  as  in  the  original  manifes- 
tation, "the  form  of  God."  But  it  is  precisely  here  where 
the  scriptures  state  the  contrast  to  be — "  Being  in  the  form 
of  God,  he  made  himself  of  no  reputation  ;  and  took  upon 
him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of 
men ;  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled 
himself  and  became  obedient  unto  death." 

You  will  perhaps  reply  that,  agreeably  to  such  a  view, 
Christ  cannot  be  divine,  or  cannot  be  God.  You  will,  how- 
ever, please  to  remember,  that  I  believe  as  much  in  the  di- 
vinity of  the  Lord  as  any  man  can  do;  and  am  not  ac- 
countable for  the  conclusions  which  other  men  may  deduce 
from  scriptural  facts.  But  I  cannot  see  that  your  conclu- 
sion will  follow.  Soul  is  not  predicated  of  simple  spirit, 
but  of  embodied  spirit.  Jehovah  is  not  less  divine,  or  less 
Jehovah,  when  considered  irrespective  of  the  form  he  may 
assume,  or  as  he  is  in  himself  pure  Spirit.  A  spirit  en- 
tering a  body,  though  denominated  soul,  does  not  cease  to 
be  spirit.  When  death  shall  have  dissolved  our  bodies,  our 
spirits  shall  not  therefore  cease  to  exist.  If,  as  Paul  seems 
to  intimate,  our  spirits  shall  be  clothed  with  heavenly  forms 
for  a  time,*  and  thus  shall  await  the  resurrection  of  their 
own  appropriate  bodies ;  and  if,  though  soul  may  not  be 
predicated  of  such  a  mode  of  existence,  our  identity  is  not 
destroyed,  such  a  conclusion  may  not  be  forced  upon  us  in 
view  of  the  case  in  hand.  Or  if,  when  the  Lord  and  his 
angels  appeared  in  the  form  of  men,  and  did  eat  and  drink 
with  Abraham,  while  yet  no  distinct  and  permanent  per- 

*  2  Cor.  v,  1—4, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  299 

sonal  subsistence  can  be  supposed ;  and  if,  in  that  or  a  simi- 
lar case  the  Lord  could  say  to  Abraham — "I  am  Almighty 
God ;"  it  surely  cannot  follow,  that,  when  the  Spirit  of 
God  dwells  in  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  he  may  not  say,  "  I 
am  Almighty  God."  Nothing  can  be  more  distinct  than 
his  own  declarations — "The  Father  dwelleth  in  me" — "  I 
cast  out  devils  by  the  Spirit  of  God" — "All  shall  honor 
the  Son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father.  He  that  hon- 
oreth  not  the  Son,  honoreth  not  the  Father  which  hath  sent 
him." 

None  will  deny  the  humanity  of  Christ  Jesus.  I  mean 
to  say,  that  no  one,  with  whom  it  can  be  our  object  to  moot 
the  questions  before  us,  will  deny  that  the  scriptures  have 
exhibited  to  us  "the  man  Christ  Jesus."  By  a  man,  the 
controvertist  will  concede,  is  to  be  understood,  a  being  who 
has  a  human  body  and  a  reasonable  soul.  Or  if  any  con- 
scientious inquirers  should  think  that  the  question,  whether 
he  had  a  human  soul  or  not,  is  not  easily  answered,  our  pre- 
sent argument  might  relieve  them.  For  as  soul  is  predi- 
cated of  him,  as  the  soul  or  God  is  predicated  of  no  per- 
son but  of  that  one  which  no  man  hath  seen,  nor  can  see, 
and  which  we  have  already  shown  was  Jehovah-Elohim,  or 
Jehovah  in  "the  form  of  God,"  it  follows  that  the  soul 
which  was  predicated  of  Christ  was  human ;  and  that,  con- 
stituted as  other  men  are,  with  the  exception  that  he  had  no 
earthly  father,  but  was  "the  only  begotten  Son  of  God" — 
he  was  the  ministerial  organ  by  which  Jehovah  manifested 
himself.  As  Jehovah  always  acts  consistently  with  his 
own  purposes,  and  consistently  with  the  attributes  of  tlje 
ministerial  organ  he  employs,  the  whole  case  stands  out 
before  us  invested  with  its  own  peculiarities — peculiarities 
which  identify  the  divine  manifestation  with  human  inte- 
rests in  a  manner  of  its  own  ;  yet  resembling — the  image 
of — the  first  manifestation. 

Look  at  the  object  in  view.  Man,  who,  by  the  necessi- 
ties of  his  nature,  must  have  a  personal  manifestation  of 


300  LECTURES  ON 

Jehovah  made  unto  him,  has  gone  into  rebellion  against  this 
Lord.  The  object  is  to  restore  him  to  his  allegiance  by 
a  system  of  moral  or  political  means  consistent  with  his  na- 
ture. He  cannot  see  God  and  live :  i.  e.  in  his  lapsed  state 
the  original  manifestation  of  Jehovah  is  altogether  inap- 
propriate to  him  ;  and  yet  by  the  necessities  of  his  nature  he 
must  have  a  manifestation  of  Jehovah.  The  object  then, 
is  to  constitute  a  mediatorial  Prince — an  image  of  Jeho- 
vah-Elohim,  suited  to  the  present  condition  of  mankind. 
Another  will  not  answer ;  for  it  is  a  manifestation  of  Jeho- 
vah himself  that  is  needed.  No  prophet,  nor  any  officer 
as  a  mere  man,  will  meet  the  case,  because  all  men  belong 
to  the  ordinary  organization,  and  are  involved  in  the  re- 
bellion. Yet  the  best  manifestation  which  the  nature  of  the 
case  will  admit,  and  on  which,  as  its  base,  can  be  construct- 
ed a  system  of  efficient  moral  means,  where  a  common 
cause  can  be  made,  and  sympathies  have  their  full  play, 
must  be  afforded.  This  has  been  done.  Accordingly  Christ 
is  not  revealed  before  us  as  one  of  the  fallen  ;  but  "  a  body 
was  prepared  for  him,"  and  he  was  "  without  sin."  In  him 
Jehovah  makes  the  manifestation  of  himself  which  was 
indispensably  necessary:  and  thus,  by  the  very  nature  of 
the  transaction,  Christ  appears  before  us  as  the  Lord,  and 
yet  the  image  of  the  divine  Person.  It  is  impossible,  from 
the  whole  philosophy  of  the  general  subject,  whether  you 
consider  either  the  divine  object,  or  the  human  exigency, 
that  he  should  be  any  thing  less.  Hence  David's  lan- 
guage— "  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord  ;"  and  Paul's — 
"The  second  man  is  the  Lord  from  heaven ;"  and  Peter's 
— f'°God  hath  made  that  same  Jesus  whom  ye  have  cruci- 
fied both  Lord  and  Christ." 

We  are  now  compelled  to  resort,  for  farther  explanation 
of  this  "  mystery  of  godliness,"  to  the  principles  of  official 
life.  In  this  direction  we  have  gone  so  far  in  our  statements 
as  to  exhibit  the  philosophy  of  the  chief  magistracy  of  our 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  301 

country.*  We  have  now  to  suppose  a  case.  A  particular 
province  or  state  may  be  considered  as  having  violated  her 
allegiance  and  gone  into  rebellion.  What  remedy  would 
the  political  philosopher  suggest  in  such  a  case  ?  It  is  in- 
expedient that  the  chief  magistrate  should  go  in  his  own 
proper  person,  though  the  entire  power  and  authority  with 
which  he  is  invested  should  be  required.  It  might,  per- 
haps, be  said,  as  David's  men  said  to  him—"  Thou  shalt  go 
no  more  with  us  to  battle,  that  thou  quench  not  the  light  of 
Israel."!  None  of  the  ordinary  officers,  though  the  spirit 
of  the  community  might  be  resting  on  them,  could  meet  the 
emergency ;  because  their  commission  is  too  limited,  and 
their  locality  would  destroy  confidence  in  their  integrity. 
The  only  expedient,  in  such  circumstances,  which  has  yet 
been  devised,  has  been  to  send  a  viceroy  or  plenipotentiary  ; 
or  one  in  whom  all  power,  or  all  the  fulness  of  the 
sovereign  power,  should  reside.  Under  such  an  arrano-e- 
ment  none  would  be  exempt  from  subjection  to  this  me- 
diatorial officer,  save  the  chief  magistrate  himself. 

I  offer  you  in  these  remarks,  be  it  remembered,  merely 
a  simile.  Do  not  the  scriptures  thus  describe  our  Media- 
torial Prince,  our  glorious  captain  ?  In  him  dwelleth  all 
the  fulness  of  the  godhead  bodily" — He  is  the  Heir  of 
all  things — all-  power  in  heaven  and  earth  is  given  unto 
him — He  is  head  over  all  things — the  head  of  all  prin- 
cipality and  power — Unto  him  eveiy  knee  must  bow  and 
every  tongue  shall  swear — "None  is  excepted  save  he  who 
did  put  all  things  under  him." 

This  viceroy  or  plenipotentiary  alluded  to,  is  the  image 
of  the  chief  magistrate.  The  spirit  of  the  chief  magis- 
trate, as  such,  rests  on  his  representative,  and  yet  it  is  the 
spirit  of  the  community  which  rests  upon  him.  If  you 
take  away  from  the  chief  magistrate  the  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity, he  has  no  right  to  send  the  plenipotentiary.  Of 
course  the  spirit  of  the  community  is  the  guaranty  for  the 
*  See  Lee.  V.  f  2  Sam.  iii.  2 — L  xxi.  17. 

Vol.  L— 26 


302  LECTURES  ON 

commission.  This  double  operation  any  one  acquainted 
with  the  philosophy  of  politics  would  readily  understand. 
If  then  any  such  double  view  is  given  in  the  scriptures,  in 
respect  to  the  Mediator,  i.  e.  if  at  one  time  the  Spirit  of  the 
Word  as  the  original  Lord  is  said  to  rest  on  the  Redeemer, 
and  at  another  God,  as  a  Spirit  simply  considered,  is  said 
to  dwell  in  him,  or  if  there  b  a  "  procession  of  the  Spirit 
from  the  Father  to  the  Son,"  as  theologians  speak,,  it  must 
be  some  such  official  matter  as  that  which  has  been  described 
in  the  political  transactions  alluded  to. 

The  deputy,  clothed  with  such  extraordinary  powers,  may 
solicit  from  the  chief  magistrate  the  means  of  executing 
his  commission.  He  may  ask  even  the  community,  or  ap- 
peal to  the  spirit  of  the  community  simply  considered,  to 
sustain  his  plenary  power,  or  to  uphold  him  in  the  exercise 
of  the  magistracy,  as  they  do  uphold  the  chief  magistrate 
himself:  and  he  may  confidently  expect  that  the  spirit 
of  the  community  will  respond  to  his  prayer.  No  one  dis- 
cerns any  absurdity  in  all  this,  nor  argues,  either  that  the 
magistrate  is  praying  to  himself,  or  that  the  viceroy  has  not 
been  entrusted  with  full  power.  On  the  contrary,  his  ex- 
traordinary commission  is  the  reason  why  he  offers  the  pray- 
er ;  take  away  the  commission  and  he  may  not  oiler  the 
prayer  at  all.  Now  there  is  not  one  single  prayer  which 
the  Redeemer  offers,  that  this  principle  of  political  philoso- 
phy does  not  cover.  That  "the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
dwells  in  him  bodily,"  is  no  reason  why  he  should  not  pray 
as  he  does  ;  but  is  the  very  reason  why  he  should.  Hence 
the  Redeemer  explains  one  prayer  by  another,  and  furnishes 
us  with  the  true  principle  of  exposition  when  he  prays — 
li  Father,  glorify  thy  name" — for  God's  name  is  that  visi- 
ble representation  of  himself  in  which  he  dwells. 

The  general  object  being  accomplished,  or  the  enterprise 
on  which  the  viceroy  was  sent  being  finished,  will  he  not 
return  his  commission,  and  take  his  own  place  as  a  subject. 
while  the  spirit  of  the  commonw ealth  will  retire  into  its  ap- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  303 

propriate  form.  The  rebellion  being  staid,  the  breach  be- 
ing healed,  the  disobedient  being  reconciled,  the  empire 
being  made  whole,  and  the  office  of  viceroy  being  no  longer 
necessary,  will  not  the  chief  magistrate  be  all  and  in 
all  ?  And  is  not  this  the  very  thing  which  Paul  describes, 
wrhen  he  speaks  of  the  end  coming  ?  of  the  Son  surren- 
dering the  kingdom  to  the  Father,  and  taking  his  place  as 
subject  1  and  of  God  becoming  all  and  in  all?* 

According  to  such  a  view  of  political  remedies,  founded. 
as  you  distinctly  perceive,  on  the  multiform  manifestation 
of  Spirit  ;  which — the  chief  magistrate  in  his  own  proper 
person,  or  the  viceroy — would  be  the  greatest?  Both  have 
all  power.  The  spirit  of  the  commuity  resides  in  both,  and 
for  a  strictly  analogous  purpose.  Yet  manifestly,  as  Paul 
would  say,  the  chief  magistrate  in  his  own  proper  person 
is  the  greatest ;  and  the  viceroy  may  say  of  him,  and  with- 
out introducing  any  confusion  into  political  science — "  He 
is  greater  than  I."  Now,  says  the  Redeemer,  "  God  is  a 
Spirit."  The  remedial  operation  in  the  divine  govern- 
ment, on  which  we  are  meditating,  must  therefore  depend 
upon  the  multiform  manifestation  of  Spirit.  There  is  no 
higher  simile  afforded  to  us  in  intellectual  philosophy. 
And  accordingly  the  facts  in  the  case  are — Jehovah,  who 
is  a  Spirit,  originally  manifested  himself  in  "the  form  of 
God,"  or  as  Jehovah-Elohim,  the  Lord  of  the  universe.  In 
consequence  of  the  fall  of  man,  and  for  remedial  purposes, 
as  we  cannot  now  see  this  original  manifestation  and  live,  a 
second  manifestation  of  the  same  Spirit,  and  for  analogous 
purposes,  has  become  necessary.  When  that  manifesta- 
tion is  made,  he  who  appears  before  us  is  God  Almighty — 
has  all  power  given  to  him — has  all  things  put  under  his 
feet — is  the  same  Spirit — is  Lord  over  all.  Yet  "  manifest- 
ly," says  Paul, — there  is  no  mystery,  nor  difficulty,  nor 
confusion  about  it — "manifestly  he  is  excepted,  who  did 
put  all  things  under  him."     Manifestly,  on  the  fair  princi- 

*  1  Cor.  xv.  24—27. 


$04  LECTURES  ON 

pies  of  political  science,  Jesus  would  say — "  My  Father  is 
oreater  than  I."  The .  manifestation  of  Jehovah  in  "the 
form  of  God,"  or  as  Jehovah-Elohim,  was  suited  to  the 
character  and  powers  of  man,  before  he  fell ;  and  shall  be 
again  suited  to  him,  when,  delivered  from  sin,  he  shall  be 
"like  God"  hereafter.  The  manifestation  of  God  "in 
the  flesh"  is  suited  to  man  in  his  present  fallen  state,  when 
encompassed  by  the  infirmities  of  the  flesh.  Both  are  mani- 
festations of  the  same  Spirit — of  the  supreme  God,  without 
contradiction  or  confusion.  Yet  is  not  the  first  evidently 
the  greater  manifestation  ?  Is  it  not  so  much  greater.. 
that  our  lost  powers  must  be  restored  before  we  can  see 
or  enjoy  it  ?  And  can  it  follow,  that  because  we  have  a  se- 
cond manifestation  of  Jehovah,  suited  to  our  condition  of 
imbecility,  that  the  avowed  inferiority  converts  the  Lord 
into  a  mere  creature  ?  Or  must  we  range  through  creation 
in  quest  of  some  superangelic  creature,  whose  official  re- 
lations might  relieve  a  plain  problem  in  political  philosphy, 
when  the  simple  details  of  the  subject  itself  bring  all  the 
relief  that  can  be  required  ? 

You  may  perhaps  still  feel  a  difficulty,  because  it  is  evi- 
dently the  same  Being  described  in  the  scriptures.  The 
Word  which  was  in  the  beginning  becomes  flesh  ;  but  in 
the  simile  advanced  for  illustration,  you  say,  there  are  two 
distinct  beings — the  chief  magistrate  and  the  viceroy. 
This  is  true ;  and  in  the  Redeemer's  case,  or  under  the 
mediatorial  administration,  the  head  of  which  is  anthropo- 
morphic, or  like  man,  you  hear  of  "  the  man  Christ  Jesus," 
who,  as  such,  had  body,  soul  and  spirit  of  his  own.  The 
Spirit  of  God  dwelling  in  him,  is  like  the  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity dwelling  in  an  individual.  Not  so  at  first.  Then 
God  had  his  own  appropriate  form ;  not  the  form  of  man, 
but  f  the  form  of  God  ;"  by  the  assumption  of  which  form 
the  divine  person  or  hypostasis  subsisted.  "  In  the  be- 
ginning, the  Word — Jehovah-Elohim — was."  And  the 
object  then  was,  that  man,  who  was  made  in  the  image  of 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  305 

God,  might,  in  discharging  his  personal  responsibilities,  be 
like  God. 

Then  again.  Under  all  the  varieties  of  political  mani- 
festations among  men,  there  is  but  one  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity. The  identity  is  to  be  found  in  Sjririt.  In  the 
scriptural  case  before  us  there  are  two  forms — the  form  of 
God,  and  the  form  of  man;  yet  there  is  one  Spirit.  Paul 
himself  adopts  this  very  mode  of  explanation  when  tracing 
the  subject  out  into  its  subsequent  ramifications.  "  There 
are,"  he  says,  "  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit. 
And  there  are  differences  of  administrations,  but  the 
same  Lord.  And  there  are  diversities  of  operations,  but  it 
is  the  same  God,  which  worketh  all  in  all."  There  is  a  . 
great  variety  of  spiritual  gifts,  and  these  are  bestowed  on 
different  men  for  official  purposes  ;  but  "  all  these  worketh 
that  one  and  the  self-same  Spirit."*  So  there  is  in  the 
frame  of  political  government  an  endless  variety  of  influ- 
ences  or  vicarious  agencies,  but  the  same  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity runs  through  them  all. 

You  will  recognise  the  idea,  which  I  am  offering  as  a 
similitude,  when  reminded  that  corporations,  which  are 
made  up  of  many  individual  members,  form  one  political 
person.  Paul  would  compare  these  political  expedients  to 
the  human  body  ;  which,  though  composed  of  many  mem- 
bers, forms  but  one  whole.  On  this  very  principle  he 
declares  the  church  to  be  constructed.  His  lang;uasre  is — 
•'  So  also  is  Christ."!  Hence,  acts  which  may  be  done  in 
successive  ages  are  performed  by  the  same  political  per- 
son, though  great  changes  have  occurred  as  to  the  indivi- 
dual man.  The  king  of  Israel  built  the  temple  at  Jerusa- 
lem. Saul  was  king  of  Israel.  But  Saul  did  not  build 
the  temple.  Again.  Solomon  built  the  temple.  But  So- 
lomon is  the  name  of  a  mere  man,  who,  considered  simply 
as  such,  did  not  build  the  temple;  for  it  was  erected  by  the 
king.  Yet  for  the  sake  of  distinction,  and  where  a  sue* 
*  1  Cor.  xi.  4—11.  f  1  Cor.  xi.  12--3L 

26* 


306  LECTURES  ON 

cession  occurs,  the  name  of  the  particular  individual  is  of- 
tentimes necessary  in  speaking  of  the  acts  of  the  political 
person.  The  Lord  from  heaven  is  our  Saviour.  Not  the 
Lord  in  the  form  of  God,  for  in  that  view  he  is  our  Crea- 
tor. It  is  in  the  form  of  man  that  he  is  our  Saviour.  Je- 
sus Christ  did  many  mighty  works,  and  yet  he  says — 
"  The  Father  who  dwelleth.in  me,  he  doeth  the  works" — 
•'  I  can  of  mine  own  self  do  nothing."  But  to  say  Jesus 
did  these  works  is  proper,  because  in  the  man  Christ  Jesus 
the  Father  dwelt ;  and  these  terms  all  belong  to  the  Lord, 
who  was  in  the  form  of  God,  who  made  the  world,  and 
who  has  been  manifested  in  this  second  form  of  man.  If 
terms  could  not  thus  be  interchanged,  there  could  be  no 
changes  in  the  divine  manifestations  ;  and  corporate  bodies 
could  not  outlive  the  individual  members  of  which  they 
are  composed  at  any  given  time.  Is  it  not  in  this  political 
sense  that  you  may  very  justly  remark — Isaiah,  or  Jere- 
miah, or  Daniel,  or  some  one  of  the  prophets,  said  so  and 
so,  when  in  fact  it  was  the  Lord  who  said  so  by  them  ? 

To  carry  our  simile  then  as  far  as  the  illustration  of  our 
subject  may  require,  and  as  far  as  just  exposition  will  ad- 
mit, it  may  in  continuation  be  observed,  that  every  minis- 
terial organ  which  the  spirit  of  the  community  may  em- 
ploy, preserves  its  own  distinctive  attributes.  David  and 
Solomon  were  both  the  king  of  Israel;  but  David  was  atnan 
of  war,  and  Solomon  was  a  man  of  peace.  Each  one  act- 
ed out  his  own  character,  and  impressed  his  own  image  on 
his  own  age.  A  similar  fact  is  every  where  visible  in  the 
government  of  God.  There  were  many  prophets,  and 
there  have  been  many  apostles.  Isaiah,  and  Jeremiah, 
Peter  and  Paul,  though  servants  of  God,  and  anointed  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  yet  never  lose  their  individuality.  One 
wrote  and  spoke,  and  acted  as  another  could  not  have  done. 
"There  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit.  To 
one  is  given  by  the  Spirit  the  word  of  wisdom  ;  to  another 
the  word  of  knowledge  by  the  same  Spirit."     Suppose  then 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  307 

that  we  carry  the  principle  a  little  higher  up.  When  God. 
who  is  specially  declared  to  be  a  Spirit,  manifests  him- 
self in  '-the  form  of  God" — in  which  form  he  is  called 
Jehovah-Elohim — .there  are  operations  peculiar  to  him  in 
that  form.  Thus  he  created  the  world — thus  he  sustains 
the  world — thus  he  says  to  the  Son,  "  sit  on  my  right  hand, 
until  /  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool — thus  he  is  too  glo- 
rious for  man  in  his  lapsed  condition  to  see.  But  he  mani- 
fests himself  "in  the  flesh;*'  and  now  certain  other  thing- 
are  said,  which  are  true  of  "  the  form  of  man,"  and  which 
cannot  be  predicated  of  "the  form  of  God."  Hence  wc 
hear  of  the  holy  child  Jesus — of  his  growing  in  wisdom 
and  stature — of  "the  man  Christ  Jesus" — of  his  learning- 
obedience  by  the  things  that  he  suffered — of  his  not  know- 
ing the  time  of  the  judgment — of  his  not  being  able  to  do 
any  thing  of  himself.  On  the  principles  of  political  phi- 
losophy, which, while  it  discourses  of  a  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity, yet  ascribes  to  every  ministerial  organ  that  maybe 
employed  its  own  distinctive  attributes — on  the  principles 
of  political  philosophy  all  the  expressions  referred  to  arc 
readily  and  consistently  explained.  Many  of  those  expres- 
sions have  been  thought  to  be  exceedingly  strange,  and  have 
been  most  pertinaciously  urged  as  full  proof  against  "the 
divinity  of  Christ."  But  if  man,  as  an  official  agent,  wears 
the  image  of  God,  these  expressions  are  necessarily  accu- 
rate, as  long  as  the  manifestation  of  Jehovah  in  "the  form 
of  God,"  and  the  manifestation  of  God  "in  the  flesh,"  be 
the  subjects  offered  to  the  consideration  of  the  human  mind. 
Another  remark  here  may  be  necessar}7.  The  official 
relation  subsisting  between  Jehovah  and  the  Saviour  is  gen- 
erally expressed  by  the  terms,  Father  and  SoN :  from 
which  fact,  on  the  supposition  that  the  distinction  exists  in 
the  divine  Essence,  we  have  had  not  a  little  learned  dis- 
cussion about  filiation.  And,  in  explanation  of  the  doc- 
trine of  eternal  generation,  many,  who  would  con- 
temptuously smile  at  the  official  analogies  now  presented- 


308  LECTURES  ON 

and  reply  in  that  common  and  significant  phrase — "those 
are  different  things" — would  tell  us,  there  cannot  be  a  fa- 
ther where  there  is  no  offspring ;  or  the  sun  and  his  rays 
are  co-existent — as  though  these  too  were  not  different 
things.  It  has  however  been  sufficiently  noticed,  that  the 
scriptures  have  unequivocally  asserted  that  Jesus  was  born 
of  the  virgin  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  is  there- 
fore denominated  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God.  When 
then  Jehovah  manifests  himself  in  his  only  begotten  Son, 
who  is  thereby  distinguished  from  all  other  men,  the  term 
Son  will  be  familiarly  used  in  reference  to  the  Lord  from 
heaven ;  as  familiarly  as  the  term  David  would  be  applied 
to  the  king  of  Israel,  while  the  son  of  Jesse,  who  was  par- 
ticularly distinguished  by  the  term,  should  occupy  the 
throne. 

But  these  titles — Father  and  Son,  have  an  official  re- 
ciprocity ;  and  there  is  a  special  reason,  if  I  mistake  not, 
why  they  should  be  used,  in  the  present  case,  in  prefer- 
ence to  all  others.  When  civil  government  was  first  es- 
tablished, official  honor  was  naturally  and  necessarily  here- 
ditary. The  oldest  son  was  not  only  heir  to  the  paternal 
estate  ;  but  became  such,  in  so  far  as  the  exigencies  of  so- 
ciety required  it,  because  he  had  to  sustain  the  dignity,  and 
meet  the  expenses  of  the  magistracy  which  devolved  upon 
him.  In  the  subsequent  arrangements  which  belonged  to 
the  Jewish  constitution,  official  honors,  originally  appropri- 
ated to  the  first-born,  were  distributed  to  different  indivi- 
duals. The  priesthood  was  conferred  on  the  tribe  of  Levi, 
and  on  the  family  of  Aaron.  The  princely  prerogative  was 
not  lodged  with  the  hierophant,  but  might  be  bestowed  on 
any  individual,  of  any  family,  of  any  of  the  tribes.  The 
state  of  society  after  "the  earth  was  divided,"  and  national 
relations  were  constituted,  required  this  modification  of  the 
original  ordinance.  Society  has  not  yet  recovered  herself; 
nor  will  she,  until  "  the  mystery  of  the  divine  will  is  finish- 
ed.    The  Jewish   constitution   is   considered  as  a  divine 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  309 

precedent,  justifying  this  "  diversity  of  gifts"  and  this  "dif- 
ference of  administrations."  And  so  far  has  this  matter 
been  carried,  that  many,  affecting  to  be  wiser  than  all  the 
rest  of  their  race,  can  see  nothing  but  king-craft  in  politi- 
cal, and  priestcraft  in  moral,  science.  What  may  be  the  oc- 
currences and  changes  and  institutions  of  a  future  age,  when 
"the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth  as  the 
waters  cover  the  channel  of  the  sea,"  when  the  new  or- 
ganization, after  which  so  many  are  wistfully  looking,  may 
be  accomplished  by  the  breaking  up  of  old  institutions,  and 
by  a  return  to  original  simplicity,  no  politician  nor  moralist 
can  now  distinctly  foresee.  The  prejudices  of  political  par- 
ties and  of  religious  sects  are  too  strong,  to  suffer  men  to 
conceive  of  a  pure  theocracy,  in  which  Prince  Messiah 
shall  govern  by  his  Spirit. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  evident  that  the  terms  be- 
longing to  the  different  offices  lost  their  general  import,  and 
became  secondary  titles.  Father  and  Son  were  then  the 
only  general  terms  left,  by  which  the  inspired  writers  could 
describe  the  official  relations  which  we  are  considering. 
King  was  not  enough,  for  the  prince  was  no  longer  priest. 
Priest  was  not  enough,  for  the  priest  was  no  longer  prince. 
Hence  the  apostle,  in  illustrating  the  official  relations  of  the 
Son  of  God,  was  obliged  to  leave  the  family  of  Aaron,  and 
resort  to  the  apparent  anomaly  afforded  by  the  priesthood  of 
Melchisedec,  in  order  to  exhibit  Jesus  as  a  Priest  upon 
his  throne  ?  Going  back  then  to  the  simplicity  of  civil 
government,  as  it  was  instituted  in  the  beginning,  and  de- 
riving from  the  natural  relations  the  best  analogy  by  which 
to  illustrate  the  regal  prerogative,  these  terms — Father 
and  Son — seem  to  be  peculiarly  expressive  in  elucidating 
the  relations  of  the  mediatorial  kingdom.  Hence  it  is  that 
you  often  find  the  term  Father  used  in  an  official  sense. 
Every  prince  should  be  a  Father  to  his  people.  Micah 
consecrated  a  young  Levite,  whom  he  cherished  as  his  son, 
to  be  unto  him  a  Father  and  a  priest.     The  prophet,  tes- 


310  LECTURES  ON 

tifying  beforehand  concerning  Christ,  calls  him  the  ever- 
lasting father,  because  he  should  bear  the  government 
and  the  glory,  and  should  reign  forever.  And  hence 
Adam  is  said  to  have  begotten  a  Son  in  his  own  likeness 
and  after  his  image,  who  was  to  occupy  the  official  position, 
which  was  vacated  by  the  murder  of  Abel  and  the  apostacy 
of  Cain. 

In  a  government  which  recognised  the  hereditary  prin- 
ciple, a  case  might  readily  occur,  when  the  king  being 
retired  by  death,  and  the  Son  being  in  a  state  of  minority, 
some  temporary  provision  must  be  made.  A  Regent  must 
be  appointed ;  who,  though  he  would  not  be  considered  as 
the  Heir,  but  as  a  servant,  should  be  invested  with  the 
supreme  power.  In  this  way  Moses  and  Christ  have  been 
actually  compared  by  the  apostle  Paul — Moses,  he  says, 
"was  faithful  in  all  God's  house  as  a  servant,  but 
Christ  as  a  Son  over  his  own  house."  By  a  like  illustra- 
tion does  the  Redeemer  himself  exhibit  his  own  claims, 
when,  in  one  of  his  parables,  which  was  designed  to  ex- 
plain the  nature  and  institutions  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
he  described  a  householder  as  having  first  and  often  sent  his 
servants  to  obtain  the  fruits  of  his  vineyard ;  and  finally 
sending  his  Son.  The  separate  pretensions  of  those  offi- 
cers were  well  understood ;  for  the  husbandman,  on  seeing 
the  Son,  observed,  "this  is  the  heir."  In  the  political  ad- 
ministration sustained  by  the  Lord  of  the  universe,  all  those 
prophets  who  were  trusted  writh  a  temporary  regency  be- 
fore "the  fulness  of  time"  had  come,  and  who  were  called 
Gods.  (Elohim)  were  merely  servants.  But  when  "  the 
fulness  of  time"  had  arrived,  and  the  great  Prophet  appear- 
ed, he  was  the  Son  and  Heir — the  Son  in  his  own  house 
■ — the  Heir  of  all  things.  Every  reader  of  the  bible 
knows,  that  these  are  scriptural  ideas  ;  and  yet  they  strict- 
ly belong  to  political  philosophy,  or  the  science  of  govern- 
ment; nor  do  they  detract  any  thing  from  the  glory  of  the 
Saviour,  as  God  over  all,  blessed  for  evermore.  It  is  on 
general  political  principles  that  Paul  speaks  of  the  church 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  311 

under  Moses  as  a  minor.*  The  biblical  writers  never  hesi- 
tate to  employ,  for  the  purposes  of  illustration,  the  maxims 
of  political  philosophy. 

These  terms — Father  and  Son — do  not  appear  to  me  to 
imply  more  than  I  have  stated  in  the  double  explication 
now  given  ;  an  explication  founded  on  a  common  idea,  that 
one  divine  system  is  analogous  to  another  divine  system. 
Nature  corresponds  with  revelation — the  mediatorial  insti- 
tute corresponds  with  the  law — the  two  covenant  heads, 
Adam  and  Christ,  resemble  each  other,  as  Paul  has  taught 
us.  The  divinity  of  the  Redeemer,  or  the  fact  that  he  was 
"  God  manifested  in  the  flesh" — "  the  Word  made  flesh" — 
is  far  clearer  on  the  principles  of  exposition  now  set  forth, 
than  on  any  fine-spun  theory  of  filiation,  which  the  most 
learned  or  ingenious  theologue  could  advance  ;  and  that 
simply  because  we  have  been  contemplating  nature  and 
grace  as  correlate.  Prince  Messiah — the  Word  made  flesh — 
is  as  much  Almighty  God,  as  he  was,  who  appeared  as  a 
man  to  Abraham,  and  declared  himself  to  be  Almighty 
God,  who  entered  into  covenant  with  the  patriarch,  and 
said  to  him — "  Walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect:  if 
you  object  to  the  divinity  of  the  Saviour,  you  must  equally 
object  to  the  divinity  of  the  Creator. 

This  analogy,  which  we  have  pursued  so  closely,  and 
which  may  appear  to  many  to  be  so  novel,  enables  us  to  go 
one  step  farther.  The  Spirit  of  the  community  which  we 
have  observed  to  rest  on  the  chief  magistrate,  on  his  pleni- 
potentiary, and  on  all  the  subordinate  officers — in  which  de- 
tail there  is  a  diversity  of  gifts,  a  difference  of  ministries, 
a  diversity  of  operations,  but  the  self-same  God,  the  self-, 
same  Spirit,  as  Paul  would  say,  in  reference  to  divine 
things — this  self-same  spirit  of  the  community  rests  on  the 
people  themselves.  Every  patriot  carries  with  him — in  his 
bosom — wherever  he  goes,  the  spirit  of  his  country.  Each 
is  a  partaker  of  the  general  diffusion,  and  feels  an  attractive, 

*  Gal.  iii. 


312    '  LECTURES  ON 

subduing,  transforming  influence,  which  moulds  his  cha- 
racter, controls  his  feelings,  and  regulates  his  habits.  He 
never  interprets  that  influence  to  be  physical  power,  and 
yet  freely  talks  of  its  omnipotence  and  versatility,  as  per- 
vading every  relation  and  assimilating  all  to  itself. — 
Wherever  he  goes  he  is  recognised  and  known — the  spirit 
of  his  country  has  left  its  impression,  has  put  its  "  seal" 
upon  him.  He  thinks,  feels,  suffers,  enjoys,  speaks,  acts — 
does  every  thing  under  the  influence  of  that  spirit.  No 
violence  is  done  to  his  feelings.  He  experiences  no  in- 
terference with  his  liberty,  but  is  perfectly  conscious  of  his 
own  individuality,  and  acts  under  the  full  force  of  his  per- 
sonal obligations.  He  talks  most  enthusiastically  about  his 
liberty,  and  yet  is  most  devoted  to  his  country's  interests. 
He  needs  neither  bayonets  nor  swords  to  compel  his  obe- 
dience. He  acts  from  an  inward  sense — from  conscience  ; 
and  the  more  intelligence  he  has,  and  the  less  physical  pow- 
er he  feels,  the  truer,  the  more  devoted,  the  more  uniform, 
the  more  persevering,  is  his  patriotism.  On  the  other  hand, 
reduce  intelligence,  bring  in  physical  power,  talk  blindly 
about  sovereignty,  and  display  the  majesty  of  an  autocrat, 
under  whose  despotic  sway  he  lives,  and  the  patriot  becomes 
either  a  rebel  or  a  slave,  or  a  hypocrite.  Can  any  one,  who 
knows  either  the  nature  or  the  history  of  man,  deny  or  re- 
fute this  statement  ? 

In  the  preceding  remarks,  has  any  thing  else  been  pre- 
sented than  a  simple  analogy  of  the  operations  which  the 
scriptures  ascribe  to  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  The  saints  wTho  are 
all  fellow-citizens  have  all  received  the  same  spirit,  by 
whom  they  are  sanctified,  transformed,  "sealed." — 
Wherever  they  go,  they  are  recognised  as  belonging  to  the 
family  of  God,  or  as  members  of  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel.  Their  thoughts,  their  feelings,  their  habits,  are  alike  ; 
their  speech  bewrays  them ;  and  even  when,  like  Peter,  they 
would  not  be  known.  The  action  of  the  principle  is  al- 
ways true — its  political  influence  is  always  certain,  to  what- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  313 

*  ver  dispensation  it  may  be  applied.  A  jew  or  a  christian 
may  be  as  readily  recognised  as  a  mahomedan  or  a  pagan, 
as  an  American  or  an  European.  And  the  scriptures  them- 
selves employ  epithets  in  application  to  the  Holy  Spirit, 
according  to  the  dispensation  or  political  constitution  un- 
der which  he  operates.  He  is  a  Spirit  of  fear  at  one  time, 
and  a  Spirit  of  love,  of  power,  and  of  a  sound  mind  at  ano- 
ther. A  Spirit  of  bondage  while  the  law  subjected  the  jews 
to  the  elements  of  the  world  ;  and  a  Spirit  of  adoption  when 
the  believer  is  introduced  into  the  liberty  of  God's  children. 
On  this  subject  scriptural  proof  is  abundant,  while  the 
philosophy  of  the  moral  influence,  whether  general  in  its 
character  and  extended  as  the  empire  of  mind,  or- limited 
in  its  application  and  modified  by  local  circumstances,  is  ap- 
parent and  lucid.  The  whole  subject,  as  detailed  in  the 
scriptures,  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  laws  of  Spirit; 
and  refers  nothing  to  the  attributes  of  Soul,  excepting 
where  Jehovah  appears  as  the  Creator,  or  acting  as  such — 
as  in  the  morning  of  the  creation,  or  on  mount  Sinai.  The 
mediatorial  institute  is  based  on  the  principle  of  personal 
responsibility,  and  therefore  describes  the  divine  agency  as 
a  mere  development  of  the  laAvs  of  spirit.  The  doctrine 
of  physical  power  so  largely  incorporated  in  sectarian  dog- 
matizings,  which  so  pertinaciously  demands  the  submis- 
sion of  intelligent  and  thinking  man,  and  a  resistance  to 
which  has  been  the  ostensible  reason  for  papal  councils  and 
protestant  synods,  is  an  exotic  in  the  garden  of  the  Lord  ; 
and  is  poisonous  as  the  deadly  night  shade.  Look  to  both 
hemispheres.  Compare  monarchical  and  papal  pretensions 
together.  Let  the  mitred  priest  stand  by  the  crowned  prince, 
and  see  what  mischief  physical  power  has  entailed  on  man- 
kind. Spirit  seems  to  have  departed  from  them  all ;  and 
a  bloated  aristocracy  has  monopolized  glory  and  honor  and 
immortality.  These  things  can  no  longer  be  tolerated  by 
either  God  or  man,  and  revolution  will  be  but  the  harbinger 
to  revolution,  as  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  goes  forth  from  pole 
Vol.  I.— 27 


314  LECTURES  ON 

to  pole,  and  from  the  rivers  to  the  ends  of  the  earth — the 
Spirit  of  liberty,  of  truth,  of  glory,  and  of  an  everlasting 
kingdom. 

Looking  back  to  the  analogy  afforded  by  official  life,  you 
would  not  say  that  there  are  three  spirits  of  the  com- 
munity ;  nor  can  you  predicate  of  the  spirit  of  the  com- 
munity, in  its  diffused  operations  over  the  members  of  that 
community,  any  personal  or  visible  manifestation. — 
The  personal  manifestation  of  that  spirit  you  must  refer  to 
the  chief  magistracy,  or  to  his  viceroy  as  his  immediate  re- 
presentative ;  yet  it  is  not  the  less  the  spirit  of  the  commu- 
nity in  its  general  influence.  So  in  view  of  the  great  sub- 
ject before  us.  The  scriptures  predicate  personal  mani- 
festation of  God  himself,  who  is  a  Spirit,  in  speaking 
of  the  Word  in  the  beginning,  or  "  the  form  of  God."  In 
like  manner  they  predicate  personal  manifestation  of 
God  himself,  or  rather  that  which  is  as  near  to  it  as  the  case 
will  admit,  in  speaking  of  Christ  Jesus  as  his  "  exact  image." 
But  they  do  not  suppose  a  third  personal  manifestation. 
when  they  describe  the  general  operations  of  "the  Holy 
Spirit."  Yet  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not  therefore  the  less  God 
himself.  In  all  the  political  cases  referred  to,  spirit  is 
not  a  first  part,  nor  a  second  part,  nor  a  third  part,  of  the 
spirit  of  the  community ;  as  though,  according  to  the  no- 
tion of  Sabellius,  there  could  be  in  spirit  a  "  separation  or 
efflux  of  parts."  But  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  community  it- 
self.  So  in  these  divine  matters  ;  we  have  not  a  first  per- 
son or  part,  a  second  person  or  part,  a  third  person  or 
part,  of  God,  as  though  there  could  be  "a  separation  or 
efflux"  in  the  divine  essence,  but  God  himself.  But  enough. 

I  have  now  stated  what  I  believe  to  be  the  scriptural  ex- 
hibition of  this  momentous  subject.  If  I  have  departed 
from  the  popular  creed,  as  it  has  been  transmitted  to  us 
from  the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  my  remarks  are  equally 
remote  from  any  alliance  with  those  heretical  speculations, 
by  which  that  creed  has  been  assailed.     I  conceive,  as  to 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  315 

their  relative  importance,  that  the  creed  on  the  one  hand  has 
rendered  a  plain  and  glorious  subject  altogether  unintelli- 
gible. Its  authors  and  advocates  have  declared  that  they 
are  unable  to  explain  the  mystery  they  assert,  and  which 
yet  they  hold  too  sacred  for  any  but  the  impious  to  ques- 
tion. The  reputed  heresies,  on  the  other  hand,  rob  the  sub- 
ject of  all  its  glory ;  and  dip  deeper  into  mystery  than  the 
systems  which  they  censure  as  irrational  and  illiberal. 

Most  solemnly  do  I  call  upon  you  to  ponder  what  I  have 
said.  If  the  views  I  have  offered  to  your  consideration  be 
correct,  it  is  worth  your  while  to  ascertain  the  fact.  I  have 
appealed  to  scriptural  texts,  which  you  may  all  read  for 
yourselves.  I  have  advanced  doctrines  concerning  the  ne- 
cessities and  operations  of  human  nature,  of  which  you  are 
all  competent  judges.  I  have  summoned  you  into  the 
Holiest  of  all,  whither  you  may  all  come  through  the  rent 
veil  of  the  Redeemer's  flesh,  and  on  bended  knee  ask  God 
for  his  Spirit  to  teach  you.  I  have  waked  up  your  excite- 
ment on  a  subject  which  brought  down  the  heavenly  host 
to  the  plains  of  Bethlehem,  and  inspired  them  to  sing — 
"  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  peace  on  earth,  and  good  will 
towards  men  : — "  For  unto  you  is  born  this  day,  in  the  city 
of  David,  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord." — And 
now  may  God  Almighty,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spi- 
rit, abundantly  bless  you ;  and  bring  you,  in  that  day  of 
glory  when  the  Son  shall  deliver  up  the  kingdom  to  the 
Father,  to  shout  with  his  redeemed, 

Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory. 


END  OF  VOL.  I. 


LECTURES^      f^AR   2  191 

ON  THE  ^^££mj^ 

GENERAL    PRINCIPLES 

OF 

MORAL  GOVERNMENT, 

AS  THEY  ABE  EXHIBITED 

IN  THE  FIRST  THREE  CHAPTERS 

OF 

GENESIS. 

BY  JOHN  M.   DUNCAN, 

Pastor  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Congregation  of  Baltimore. 


In  the  beginning  the  VVobd  was,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word 
was  God. — John  i.  1. 

The  Word  was  made  Flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us;  and  we  beheld  his  glory, 
the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth. 
— John  i  14. 

Every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  ofhimself  to  God. — Rom.  xiv.  12. 


SECOND  EDITION,  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 

VOL.  II. 


BALTIMORE : 

CUSHING    &    SONS. 
1836. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1836,  by 
Joseph  Cushing,  Joseph  Cushing,  Jr.  and  John  Cushing,  in 
the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Maryland. 


PRINTED  BY  LUCAS  AND  DEAVER. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  XI. 

Mediatorial  work — Manifestation  of  God — Righteousness  of  the 
law  fulfilled  by  the  second  Adam — The  consequences — Rom. 
v.  12 — 20  explained — Symbolical  character  of  the  mediatorial 
work — Reasons  for  the  death  of  Christ — Principles  of  the  di- 
vine administration — The  reconciled  man — Pardon  of  personal 
sins — Term  atonement, 5 

LECTURE  XII. 

Application  of  the  mediatorial  constitution — General  views — 
Origin  of  election — Object  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham — 
Nature  and  reason  of  "  the  two  covenants" — Light  of  nature — 
Priesthood  of  Melchisedec — Priesthood  in  general — Design  of 

ELECTION, 46 

LECTURE  XIII. 

Subject  continued — Jewish  proverb — "The  two  covenants"  far- 
ther illustrated — God's  dealing  with  nations — Action  of  the 
social  principle — Sons  of  God — First-begotten  and  Heir — Vo- 
luntary associations — Elect  angels, 90 

LECTURE  XIV. 

Subject  continued — Ishmael  and  Isaac — Esau  and  Jacob — Type 
of  the  Potter — Pharaoh — General  reasonings — The  oath,         -  122 

LECTURE  XV. 

Faith  and  Vision — Reason  of  Faith — Nature  of  Faith — Opera- 
tions of  Faith — Repentance — Gifts  of  God,    ....  149 


IV  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  XVI. 

Subject  continued — Divine  Power,  whether  physical  or  moral — 
Spirit's  operations — Analogies — Physical  agents — Philosophy 
of  means — Mistakes  of  official  men — The  moral  sense — Popu- 
lar hypothesis  examined — Doctrine  of  faith  sustained — Indivi- 
dual application, 184 

LECTURE  XVII. 

Infants — Sins  of  ignorance — Characteristics  of  "  the  two  cove- 
nants"— Mystery  and  knowledge — Law  and  Gospel  in  their 
results  in  view  of  conscience — Social  influence — Annual  atone- 
ment typical  of  Christ's  sacrifice — Sin  taken  away — Relation 
of  children  to  the  mediatorial  institute — Sin  against  Law — Sin 
against  Gospel — Theological  mistake,  -  223 

LECTURE  XVIII. 

Reason  why  Jehovah  sent  our  first  parents  out  of  Eden — The 
principle  of  labour — Jewish  laws — Provisions  for  the  poor — 
New  Testament  regulations — Origin  and  evil  of  public  chari- 
ties— Remedies — Ecclesiastical  mistakes — General  reasonings,  2C8 

LECTURE  XIX. 

Religious  forms — Cherubim — Sacrifice — New  Testament  ordi- 
nances— Conclusion, 321 


LECTURES 


ON 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT. 


LECTURE    XL 


^Mediatorial  work — Manifestation  of  God — Righteousness  of 
the  Law,  fulfilled  by  the  second  Adam — The  Consequences 
— Rom.  v.  12 — 20,  explained — Symbolical  character  of 
the  mediatorial  work — Reasons  for  the  death  of  Christ — 
Principles  of  the  divine  administration — The  reconciled 
man — Pardon  of  personal  transgressions — Term  Atone- 
ment. 

In  proceeding  to  consider  the  work  of  our  mediatorial 
Prince  whom  we  have  been  contemplating  as  surrounded  by- 
all  the  glory  of  his  official  relations,  two  or  three  things  must 
be  called  up  to  our  recollection.  The  work  of  creation  and 
that  of  reconciliation  are  presented  in  the  scriptures  as  pa- 
rallel to  each  other.  Jesus  has  finished  "  and  ceased  from 
his  own  works,  as  God  did  from  his  ;"  and  has  entered  into 
his  rest.  While  such  is  the  principle  on  which  Jehovah 
acts  in  both  cases,  each  work  will  correspond  with  the  char- 
acter of  the  human  mind,  or  with  the  constitution  of  the 
human  being.  That  is — as  men  acquire  their  ideas  by- 
means  of  their  corporeal  senses,  the  divine  operations  in- 
tended for  their  instruction  must  be  an  exterior  display- 
suited  to  such  powers  of  perception.     To  meet  these  pow- 

VOL.    II.— 1 


6  .  LECTURES  ON 

ers  of  perception,  God  at  first  assumed  personal  form,  and 
exhibited  himself  by  means  of  the  material  system  which 
he  had  created.  And  now  when  the  outward  manifesta- 
tion originally  made  has  become  insufficient  or  inappro- 
priate, in  consequence  of  the  baneful  and  wide  spreading 
influence  of  Adam's  sin,  a  second  manifestation  is  afforded, 
of  the  same  general  character,  and  precisely  suited  to  the 
present  condition  of  infirmity  in  which  mankind  are  found. 
Compare  the  following  biblical  statements : — 

As  to  the  first — "  That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is 
manifest  among  them ;  for  God  hath  showed  it  unto  them. 
For  the  invisible  things  of  him  from  the  creation  of  the 
world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  which 
are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead." — "The 
heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  show- 
eth  his  handy  work.  Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and 
night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge,"  &c.  &c. 

As  to  the  second — "  The  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt 
among  us." — "He  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God." — 
"  Faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God. 
How  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard ;  and  how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher ;  and 
how  shall  they  preach,  except  they  be  sent?" 

In  both  cases  it  must  be  evident,  to  every  one  who  has 
patience  enough  to  look  at  a  system  which  differs  from  his 
early  impressions,  that  an  exhibition  is  afforded  to  the  out- 
ward senses  of  men ;  and  that  an  appeal,  with  a  view  to 
instruction,  conviction  and  intellectual  action,  is  made  un- 
der every  variety  of  suitable  and  appropriate  form.  Then, 
both  from  the  nature  of  man,  and  from  the  uniform  mode 
of  the  divine  operation,  as  well  as  from  the  exposition  offer- 
ed of  the  mediatorial  institute  itself,  the  Redeemer's  work 
must  be  an  exterior  display.  "God  hath  set  his  Son  forth 
to  be  a  propitiation."  "  Before  our  eyes  Jesus  Christ  hath 
been  evidently  set  forth,  crucified  among  us."  The  Spirit 
takes  of  the  things  which  are  Christ's,  and  shows  them  un- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  7 

to  us.  He  comes  to  convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteous- 
ness and  of  judgment.  God  is  in  Christ  reconciling  the 
world  unto  himself.  He  took  the  form  of  a  servant,  and 
became  obedient  unto  death.  In  all  things  he  was  made 
like  unto  his  brethren. 

Adopting  the  principle  thus  announced,  and  indeed  hav- 
ing no  alternative,  we  must  apply  that  principle  to  a  two- 
fold view  of  the  mediatorial  work. 

Jehovah  makes  an  exhibition  of  himself.  The  glory 
of  God  is  shining  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the 
brightness  of  glory,  and  the  exact  image  of  his  person.  No 
man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time;  the  only  begotten  Son 
which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared  him. 
These,  and  a  multitude  of  such  like  phrases,  meet  the  bibli- 
cal reader  every  where  in  the  sacred  volume.  And  as  he 
ponders  them  his  spirit  is  charmed,  his  feelings  are  interest- 
ed, his  mind  is  elevated,  the  attributes  of  the  most  High 
become  familiar — beholding  and  reflecting  the  2*lorv  of  the 
Lord,  he  catches  the  living  likeness  and  is  changed  into  the 
same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord.     Thus  he  is  found  at  last  reconciled. 

The  display  which  Jehovah  intends  to  make  of  himself 
is — that  he  is  love.  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son. — In  this  God  commendeth  his  love, 
that  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us.  Herein 
is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  he  loved  us,  and 
sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins."  Every 
where,  and  in  every  transaction — in  the  gospel  itself,  in  the 
institutions  of  the  gospel,  and  in  the  mediatorial  adminis- 
tration under  which  we  live — he  is  seeking  to  attract  us  by 
his  love.  How  charming  are  the  overtures,  the  invitations, 
the  offers,  the  promises,  which  by  his  grace  continually 
strike  upon  our  ears  !  How  untiring  and  attractive  his  for- 
bearance !  How  excellent  and  lovely  his  commands  !  How 
mild  and  well  intentioned  his  fatherly  chastisements ! 
What  a  cloud  of  witnesses — patriarchs,  prophets  and  apos- 


8  LECTURES  ON 

ties,  holy  and  inspired,  parental  and  fraternal,  domestic  and 
ecclesiastical,  secular  and  spiritual — has  he  gathered  around 
us !  With  what  profound  solicitude  he  expostulates,  en- 
treats or  forewarns !  How  kindly  he  condescends  to  send 
his  Spirit,  that  he  may  be  the  guardian  of  our  steps,  the 
companion  of  our  walks,  and  the  inmate  of  our  bosoms  ? 
The  very  angels  of  his  presence  become  our  ministers,  en- 
camp around  our  dwellings,  and  give  praise  for  our  redemp- 
tion ! 

There  is,  however,  no  view  in  which  his  goodness  ap- 
pears more  conspicuous  or  surprising,  than  in  his  becoming 
like  ourselves^  and  learning  obedience  by  the  things  which 
he  suffered ;  that,  being  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we 
are,  he  might  be  able  to  succor  them  that  are  tempted.  No- 
thing is  left  undone  that  could  serve  to  constitute  him  a 
merciful  and  faithful  high-priest.  His  sympathy  finishes 
the  display,  and  leaves  no  blessing  to  be  desired — no  defi- 
ciency to  be  regretted.  Nothing  comes  near  it,  save  the 
bright  glories  that  illuminated  the  morning  of  the  creation, 
that  called  forth  the  sons  of  God  to  hymn  his  praise,  and 
left  on  the  human  being  the  image  of  Jehovah-Elohim. 

He  farther  designs  to  manifest  his  wisdom.  How  may  a 
sinner  be  reconciled  to  God,  is  a  question  which  none  but 
the  great  Creator  can  answer.  That  such  a  reconciliation 
might  be  effected ;  that  the  child  of  transgression  and  sorrow, 
might  call  for  relief  on  the  God  of  love  who  had  been  so  freely 
expending  the  treasures  of  his  goodness,  is  an  idea  which 
any  intelligent  being  might  readily  conceive.  But  in  what 
way  such  a  magnificent  enterprise  should  be  achieved — an 
enterprise  in  which  the  divine  glory  should  not  be  tarnish- 
ed, in  which  human  nature  should  not  be  violated,  and 
which  should  be  commensurate  with  the  intermingling  sys- 
tems of  matter  and  mind,  of  personal  and  social  responsi- 
bilities, of  human  and  angelic  agencies — is  a  question  on 
which  philosophers  have  uttered  their  magniloquous  pre- 
tensions, and  infidel  men  have  affected  to  be  most  profound- 
ly wise.     But  who  among  them  has  ever  answered  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  9 

troubled  spirit,  or  relieved  the  burdened  conscience  ?  So 
widely  have  they  strayed,  that  the  gospel  has  been  foolish- 
ness to  some,  and  a  stumbling  block  to  others ;  and  their 
most  deadly  hostility  has  been  provoked,  when  the  doc- 
trine of  the  cross  has  unfolded  itself  with  all  its  heavenly 
principles ;  or  has  drawn  out  its  lines  as  a  perfect  parallel  to 
those  which  the  sentence  of  condemnation  had  inscribed  on 
the  nature  of  man,  and  on  the  earthly  habitation  which  had 
been  given  him.  The  adaptation  of  this  moral  mean  to  the 
end  designed,  is  the  display  of  divine  wisdom,  which  it  un- 
folds. Like  the  exhibition  of  wisdom,  every  where  break- 
ing upon  our  view  when  we  contemplate  the  moral  or  in- 
tellectual world,  where  cause  and  effect  are  so  nicelv  ba- 
lanced,  and  where  the  mightiest  intellect  of  which  man  can 
boast  may  expend  all  its  power,  so  the  cross  of  the  Son  of 
God  develops  the  wisdom  of  Jehovah.  And  wherever  it 
comes,  and  is  appreciated  according  to  its  own  intrinsic 
worth,  it  never  fails  to  elevate  human  character,  to  soothe 
human  sorrow,  to  mitigate  human  evils,  and  to  call  forth, 
in  their  greatest  luxuriance,  the  charities  of  human  life. 

But  the  last  remark,  by  assertingthe  efficiency  of  the  me- 
diatorial scheme,  suggests  it  to  our  consideration  as  an  equal 
manifestation  of  divine  power.  That  is,  the  cross  of  Christ 
is  the  power  of  God,  just  as  any  other  s}^stem  which  he  may 
have  set  up,  and  which  evolves  itself  in  a  series  of  opera- 
tive causes  adequate  to  certain  effects,  is  the  power  of  God  : 
or  as  his  providential  co-operation,  in  sustaining  his  own 
works,  is  the  power  of  God.  His  power,  in  this  connexion, 
is  not  a  single  omnipotent  cause,  throwing  away  from  itself 
all  secondary  agents,  or  becoming  so  isolated  in  action  as 
to  disregard  the  influence  of  motive  on  the  human  mind. 
When  this  power  is  most  fully  or  vividly  experienced,  the 
deepest  conviction  is  produced  ;  the  loftiest  purposes  are 
formed ;  the  highest  intellectual  effort  is  made ;  and  the 
greatest  amount  of  intelligence  is  communicated.  In  this 
view  the  mind  of  a  Paul,  or  the  heart  of  a  John,  the  obsti- 


10  LECTURES  OK 

nacy  of  a  jew,  or  the  stupidity  of  a  pagan,  might  as  readily 
be  enlightened  and  subdued.  And  thus  thousands  upon 
thousands  have  been  brought  to  live  in  heavenly  fellowship 
with  their  great  Redeemer;  have  died  in  triumph,  and  joy- 
fully broken  away  from  the  embrace  of  this  mortal  life,  to 
inherit  the  fulness  of  joy,  and  possess  the  everlasting 
pleasures  which  are  at  God's  right  hand.  This  point,  how- 
ever, will  call  for  more  elaborate  argument  in  a  subsequent 
lecture. 

But  turning  from  these  primary  attributes  of  Jehovah, — 
goodness,  wisdom,  and  power, — another  question  is  started 
up,  which  involves  his  justice.  This  matter  I  am  free  to 
confess  strikes  me  in  a  very  different  light  from  that  in 
which  you  commonly  hear  it  represented.  When  I  listen 
to  a  minister  of  the  God  of  love,  making  it  the  grand  ob- 
ject of  his  official  addresses,  to  throw  mankind  into  con- 
vulsions by  exaggerating  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  and  mea- 
suring his  own  success  by  the  nervous  excitement  he  pro- 
duces, my  heart  is  pained  within  me.  Such  a  ministerial 
onset  may  rouse  and  alarm ;  and  addresses  thus  violent 
and  harsh  may  suit  the  age  in  which  we  live  ;  but  the  end 
must  be  a  deterioration  of  christian  intelligence,  in  which 
moral  imbecility  and  gross  superstition,  as  they  commonly 
do,  shall  go  hand  in  hand.  How  often,  in  such  a  tissue  of 
ecclesiastical  aberrations,  professed  moralists,  in  the  same 
breath,  bless  God,  and  curse  men  made  in  the  similitude 
of  God  ! 

Certainly  God  is  just.  It  would  be  insanity  to  question 
such  a  primary  truth.  He  himself  has  set  forth  Jesus  Christ 
to  be  a  propitiation  for  the  remission  of  sin,  that  he  might 
be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  who  believe th  in  Jesus. 
But  what  is  justice  ?  Is  God  not  just,  unless  he  be  cloth- 
ed in  palsying  terrors,  and  unless  his  administration  shall  be 
set  off  under  every  symbol  that  makes  it  forbidding  and 
overwhelming}?  and  that  too  when  the  cardinal  fact  in  the 
history  of  his  operations  is,  that  he  has  so  loved  the  world 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  11 

as  to  give  his  only  begotten  Son,  because  he  has  no  plea- 
sure in  the  death  of  the  sinner  ? 

But  what,  I  ask  again,  is  justice?  Is  that  which  is  right, 
not  just  ?  Is  that  which  is  according  to  long  established 
law,  not  just?  Is  that  which  fairly  considers  all  the  points 
of  equity  that  may  be  presented,  not  just?  Otis  justice  a 
sort  of  theological  cherubim,  surmounted  by  a  naming 
sword,  which  forbids  a  poor,  trembling,  dying  sinner  to  ap- 
proach the  offers  of  life,  until  a  sovereign  word,  whose 
principles  of  operation  no  mortal  man  can  scan,  removes  the 
unmeaning  but  petrifying  omen  ?  If  the  Mediator  shall 
act  out  a  part  equal  to  that  which  Adam  acted ;  if  he  shall 
kindly  or  equitably  regard  those  who  have  been  brought 
into  suffering  by  a  fault  not  their  own  ;  if,  when  law  is  sus- 
tained, grace  should  seek,  according  to  its  excellent  nature, 
to  be  plenary,  and  even  exuberant,  in  its  provisions,  do 
men  object,  and  call  themselves  philosophers  ? — But  let  us 
go  out  into  this  discussion.  Adam,  says  Paul,  was  z,jigure 
of  Christ.     What  does  he  mean  ? 

It  has  been  very  explicitly  declared  in  the  scriptures,  to 
be  indispensably  necessary  that  the  Redeemer  should  re- 
semble Adam.  There  can  be  no  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
if  Christ  be  not  risen  :  "far  since  by  man  came  death,  by 
man  came  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  For  as  in  Adam 
all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  "Forasmuch 
as  the  children  were  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  he  also 
himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same,  that  through  death 
he  might  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death."  The 
nature  of  the  case  required  such  a  Saviour, — one  that  should 
be  qualified  for  such  transactions.  Any  plan  to  be  exe- 
cuted by  an  official  personage  of  different  characteristics, 
would  not  be  in  good  keeping  with  the  system  that  had 
been  previously  established.  The  remedy  in  such  a  case 
should  not  have  been  proportioned  to  the  evil ;  but  should 
be  either  inefficient  by  falling  below  the  evil,  or  destructive 
of  man's  free  agency  by  rising  above  the  evil.    "It  became 


12  LECTURES  ON 

him,  for  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are  all  things, 
in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,  to  make  the  captain  of 
their  salvation  perfect  through  sufferings."  And  hence  he 
himself  asked  his  sorrowing  disciples, — "  Ought  not  Christ 
to  have  suffered  these  things?" 

The  principle  of  official  operation  is  very  apparent  and 
distinct.  The  whole  case  presents  the  two  sides  of  a  legal 
instrument : — disobedience  and  penalty,  obedience  and  re- 
ward ;  or, — sin  and  death,  righteousness  and  life.  The  pro- 
blem involved  is  neither  difficult  nor  obscure  ;  and  the  deci- 
sion is  both  easy  and  safe.  If,  by  the  disobedience  of  our 
social  head,  death  has  been  introduced  into  our  world,  sure- 
ly by  the  obedience  of  another  social  head,  life  may  be  se- 
cured. The  sin  contemplated,  being  official  in  its  relations, 
and  personal  responsibility  having  been  preserved,  there  is 
nothing  at  all  unnatural  in  the  proposed  remedy.  No  phi- 
losophic moralist  can  offer  one  fair  objection;  as  no  reason 
can  be  assigned  why  righteousness  should  not  bring  life, 
under  the  operations  of  a  system  by  which  sin  brings  death. 
The  commentator  who  stammers  or  stumbles  here,  must 
be  ignorant  of  the  first  elements  of  government ;  and  could 
not  safely  be  trusted  with  any  legislative  or  judicial  interests, 
in  either  church  or  state,  however  conscientious  or  well- 
intentioned  he  might  be.  Every  institution  that  is  wise 
and  good,  lovely  and  fair,  would  wither  in  his  hands; 
the  whole  social  fabric  would  tumble  into  ruins  under  his 
erratic  and  wilting  policy  ;  and  a  thousand  human  associa- 
tions or  ordinances  might  be  substituted,  which  would  be 
as  degrading  as  they  would  be  inappropriate.  The  diffi- 
culty of  the  case  does  not  arise  from  the  impossibility  of 
ascertaining  any  competent  principle  of  relief,  but  in  the 
selection  and  qualification  of  the  agent.  Where  shall  he 
be  found  ?  Who  can  undertake  the  task  with  any  promise 
of  success  ?  Answer  this,  and  all  the  rest  is  plain  enough. 
Provide  the  agent,  and  neither  sceptic  nor  theologian  has 
the  least  cause  to  demur  as  to  the  character  of  the  com- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  13 

mission ;  or  to  perplex  and  puzzle  himself  about  any  new, 
recondite,  or  mysterious  operation,  to  which  such  an  agent 
is  called.  An  official  righteousness  bringing  in  life,  accor- 
ding to  the  very  terms  of  law,  is  the  moral  highway,  in 
which  the  way -faring  man,  though  a  fool,  need  not  err. 

Look  at  the  law,  and  its  results.  Adam's  sin  has  intro- 
duced into  our  world  "  the  ministration  of  death"'  and  con- 
demnation. He  sinned  in  violating  law,  and  death  follow- 
ed to  the  whole  extent  of  his  representative  character,  as  it 
was  constituted  by  law.  His  children  who  suffer  death  on 
account  of  his  sin,  did  not  commit  his  sin.  Yet  they  were 
constituted  sinners,  according  to  the  uniform  operation  of 
political  government.  On  the  mere  principle  of  personal 
responsibility,  which  summons  every  man  to  give  an  ac- 
count for  himself,  such  an  issue  could  not  have  occurred. 
Though  by  the  issue,  as  it  has  transpired  under  social  re- 
sponsibility, he  has  received  a  very  important  and  salutary 
lesson,  which,  in  its  application  to  himself,  would  teach 
him,  that  his  personal  sin  would  finally  involve  him  in  per- 
sonal condemnation. — And  now,  even  at  this  present  day, 
when  men  affect  to  doubt  the  inspiration  of  the  scriptures, 
and  might  fondly  imagine  that  divine  mercy  is  too  great 
to  condemn  them  on  account  of  their  personal  sin,  they 
may  turn  to  the  inspired  volume  of  nature,  on  whose  glo- 
ries they  descant  with  so  much  energy  and  excitement, 
and  learn  the  same  moral  lesson,  as  it  is  taught  under  the 
great  material  emblem. 

Take  the  other  side.  Adam  might  have  obeyed  the  law 
and  have  brought  in  life  as  the  reward  of  obedience ;  or 
have  entailed  on  the  world  "a  justification  unto  life,"  in- 
stead of  a  "  condemnation"  unto  death.  Then  all  his  chil- 
dren should  have  been  placed  under  a  "  ministration  of 
righteousness,"  which,  in  view  of  their  personal  responsi- 
bility, should  have  been  a  salutary  and  important  lesson, 
teaching  them  that  their  personal  righteousness  should  sem- 
eme their  personal  j  ustification.  Nature  should  in  that  case 
Vol.  II.— 2 


14  LECTURES  ON 

also  have  become  an  inspired  volume,  so  to  speak,  which  all 
coming  generations  might  easily  read.  And  as,  in  the  first 
view,  sin,  by  introducing  death  and  evil  into  the  world,  has 
so  far  disqualified  them  to  meet  their  personal  responsibility, 
that  a  Mediator  has  become  indispensably  necessary ;  so,  in 
the  second,  righteousness,  by  preserving  life  and  retaining 
the  good  which  had  been  orginally  created,  should  have 
fully  qualified  them  to  fulfil  their  personal  responsibility. 

Permit  me  then  to  suppose,  that  in  forming  a  remedy 
the  wise  and  beneficent  Creator  should  resolve  to  bring  in 
a  second  social  head — a  second  Adam — who  should  do 
what  the  first  Adam  failed  to  do ;  or  who  should  introduce 
a  "ministration  of  righteousness,"  attended  by  circum- 
stances which  should  enable  every  man  to  meet  his  per- 
sonal responsibilities  ;  can  any  one  object  to  such  a  reme- 
dial system  ?  Exterior  circumstances  may  be  somewhat  al- 
tered ;  but  the  principle,  philosophically  considered,  is  pre- 
cisely the  same.  This  certainly  is  the  only  plan  which  is 
consistent  with  personal  responsibility. 

You  have  all  read  enough  of  your  bibles  tojmow,  that 
the  Mosaic  dispensation  is"  uniformly  denominated  law  ; 
and  that  the  Christian  dispensation  is  as  uniformly  denomi- 
nated gospel.  I  then  call  up  to  your  recollection  a  scrip- 
tural statement  in  reference  to  these  dispensations,  which 
you  may  have  oftentimes  remarked  to  be  couched  in  very 
singular  phraseology.  The  first  is  declared  to  be  "  the  min- 
istration of  death  and  condemnation:"  so  much  for  law. 
The  second  is  as  unequivocally  set  forth  to  be  "the  minis- 
tration of  righteousness  and  of  the  Spirit:"  this  is  gos- 
pel. And  what  shall  we  understand  by  these  singular  ex- 
hibitions ?  Has  law,  under  the  Mosaic  dispensation — when 
the  jews  sinned  as  Adam  did,  when  "the  offence  abound- 
ed," and  when  Jehovah  described  to  one  of  their  own 
prophets,  the  whole  house  of  Israel  under  the  symbol  of  a 
valley  full  of  dead  and  dry  bones — any  reference  to  law  as 
violated  by  Adam  1  If  so,  then  the  phrase,  "  ministration  of 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  15 

death,"  is  an  apostolic  technicality,  descriptive  of  the  con- 
dition of  mankind,  as  they  are  constituted  sinners  by 
Adam's  transgression.  But  this  being  admitted,  then,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  phrase  "  ministration  of  righteousness," 
must  also  be  an  apostolic  technicality,  descriptive  of  the 
condition  of  mankind,  as  they  are  constituted  righteous  by 
Christ's  righteousness.  .  So  far  therefore  as  symbol  can  ex- 
plain— symbol  which  has  been  in  protracted  and  magnifi- 
cent display — it  follows  that  the  finished  work  of  the  Me- 
diator privileges  those  to  whom  its  knowledge  has  already 
come,  and  will  privilege  all  mankind  when  his  kingdom 
shall  be  one  and  his  name  one  throughout  the  earth,  with 
the  ministration  of  righteousness  ;  which  ministra- 
tion will  serve  as  a  rule  of  government  in  view  of  their 
personal  responsibility.  Of  old  he  was  praised,  and  from 
the  rising  to  the  setting  sun  shall  he  be  praised,  as  Jehovah 
our  righteousness. 

Such  is  the  ground  professedly  occupied  by  the  apostle 
Paul,  in  a  formal  argument  on  the  subject."*  Thus  he  rea- 
sons : — "As  by  the  offence  of  one,  judgment  came  upon 
all  men  to  condemnation,  even  so  by  the  righteousness 
of  one  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  unto  justification 
of  life.  As  by  one  marts  disobedience  the  many  (all) 
were  made  (constituted)  sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one 
shall  the  many  (all)  be  made  (constituted)  righteous.,} 
The  principle  of  operation,  and  the  extent  to  which  it  is 
carried,  are  the  same.  All  are  constituted  sinners,  and 
all  are  brought  into  condemnation  by  one  man's  offence 
on  the  one  hand ;  so  all  are  constituted  righteous,  and 
are  brought  into  justification  of  life  by  one  man's  right- 
eousness on  the  other.!  Two  parallel  lines  could  not  be 
more  distinctly  drawn — two  institutes  of  a  similar  charac- 
ter could  not  be  more  circumstantially  described.     Indeed, 

*  To  this  argument  I  have  had  occasion  to  allude  before,  Lecture 
VI. 

f  Rom,  v,  15—19. 


16  LECTURES  ON 

that  there  might  be  no  mistake  on  the  subject,  the  apostle 
had  prefaced  his  argument  by  unequivocally  asserting,  that 
Adam  was  the  figure  of  Christ.  And  in  so  doing  he 
holds  up  to  view  two  official  characters — the  one  at  the 
head  of  the  first,  or  legal  institute,  and  the  other  at  the 
head  of  the  second,  or  evangelical  institute.  Under  the 
one  condemnation  and  death  have  accrued — under  the  other 
righteousness  and  life  have  been  presented*  In  the  one 
all  men  die — in  the  other  all  men  are  made  alive. 

Some  theologians,  in  interpreting  this  passage,  as  just 
quoted  from  the  apostle's  pen,  feel  no  difficulty  in  applying 
the  terms — sinner  and  condemnation — to  all  men  ;  because 
their  general  doctrine  of  the  original  institute,  and  of  the 
consequences  of  its  breach,  permit  them  to  do  so  most  un- 
reservedly. They  consider  that  all  mankind  are  temporal- 
ly, spiritually  and  eternally  dead  in  Adam ;  and  that  God 
should  have  been  perfectly  juot  in  sentencing  all  Adam's 
children  to  such  a  doleful  fate  for  his  sin.  Human  depra- 
vity, the  lamentable  characteristic  of  all  ages  and  of  all 
communities,  offers  them,  as  they  suppose,  facts  enough  for 
an  impregnable  defence  in  advancing  such  dogmas.  But 
when  they  come  to  look  at  the  correlate  terms — righteous- 
ness and  justification  unto  life,  they  are  compelled  to  change 
their  ground.  And  no  wonder.  For  on  the  principle  by 
which  they  interpret  the  forensic  terms  in  the  first  instance, 
they  could  not  interpret  the  corresponding  terms  in  the  se- 
cond instance,  without  rushing  into  the  doctrine  of  univer- 
sal salvation.  Facts  would  not  sustain  so  sweeping  a  con- 
clusion, as  any  intelligent  man  may  see.  But  to  give  up 
their  principle,  in  view  of  the  consequences  of  the  fall, 
would  be  to  spoil  their  whole  theory,  and  send  them  adrift 
on  a  boundless  ocean,  where  no  sun  appears  by  day,  nor 
stars  by  night.  How  fearful  a  predicament !  Yet,  that  they 
cannot  carry  their  principle  through,  is  one  of  the  best  evi- 
dences that  it  is  incorrect.  Give  to  the  terms  all  round  an 
official  application,  leave  out  of  sight  the  untenable  idea, 


Moral  government.  17 

that  by  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin  all  men  are  made 
personally  sinners,  or  by  the  imputation  of  Christ's  right- 
eousness all  men  are  made  personally  righteous — let  tem- 
poral death  be  contrasted  with  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead — and  all  difficulties  vanish.  The  argument  becomes 
plain  and  consistent,  and  the  apostle  speaks  unrestrainedly  to 
every  candid  mind. 

I  do  not  say  that  there  is  no  difference  between  the  two 
social  heads,  or  in  the  extent  to  which  their  official  capabili- 
ties may  be  traced.  The  apostle  himself  emphatically  de- 
clares that  there  is  a  difference  ;  but  then,  instead  of  its 
being  calculated  to  restrict  the  benefits  flowing  from  Christ's 
righteousness,  these  are  celebrated  for  their  greater  exuber- 
ance. "  Not  as  it  was  by  one  that  sinned,"  says  the  apos- 
tle, "  so  is  the  gift.  For  the  judgment  was  by  one  (of- 
fence) to  condemnation,  but  the  free  gift  is  of  many  offences 
unto  justification."  The  fact  which  he  had  previously 
stated  was,  that  death  had  reigned  over  some  who  had  not 
sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression — of 
course  there  were  some  who  did  sin  like  Adam.  These 
who  did  sin  like  Adam  were  guilty  of  the  "  many  offences." 
He  explains  himself  afterwards,  by  saying,  that  in  conse- 
quence of  the  law  entering,  "  the  offence  abounded." 
The  reference  is  most  unequivocally  to  the  jews,  who  alone 
were  placed  under  law,  and  could  sin  like  Adam.  And 
he  adds — "  But  where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more 
abound  ;  that,  as  sin  hath  reigned  unto  death,  even  so  might 
grace  reign  through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life,  by  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord."  In  this,  the  gift  transcended  the  offence  : 
for  this  righteousness  of  Christ  covered  the  offences  com- 
mitted by  the  jews  against  law,  which  had  been  for  cer- 
tain purposes,  priviiy  brought  in.  Or,  as  the  same  apostle 
tells  us  in  another  of  his  epistles,  and  when  discussing  the 
subject  of  Christ's  sacrifice: — "He  is  the  Mediator  of  the 
new  testament,  that  by  means  of  death,  for  the  redemption 

of  the  transgressions  that  were  under  the  first  testament,  they 

2* 


]8  LECTURES  ON 

which  are  called  might  receive  the  promise  of  eternal  in- 
heritance." And  again  it  is  observed — "  God  hath  set  forth 
Christ  to  be  a  propitiation,  through  faith  in  his  blood,  to 
declare  his  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins  that  are 
past,  through  the  forbearance  of  God." 

Perhaps  you  may  inquire,  how  it  was  that  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  Redeemer  thus  transcended  the  original  or 
Adamic  type ;  or  on  what  principle  it,  the  remedial  right- 
eousness, could  be  extended  in  its  application,  so  as  to  co- 
ver the  transgressions  committed  under  a  temporal  revival 
of  law  1  The  answer  is  at  hand.  God  had  by  his  purpose 
of  election — adopted,  it  is  true,  with  a  view  to  the  general 
good,  and  therefore  gracious  in  its  ultimate  design,  }ret  pri- 
mly introduced — God  had,  in  erecting  the  Sinaic  establish- 
ment, placed  the  Jews  in  a  very  novel  and  peculiar  situa- 
tion. The  law  ordained  over  them  proved  to  be  "  a  min- 
istration of  death" — a  yoke,  which  neither  they  nor  their 
fathers  were  able  to  bear.  The  reason  for  this  interference 
with  the  regular  operations  of  society,  as  they  had  been 
developed  under  the  mediatorial  administration,  and  from 
the  day  "the  first  promise"  was  given,  will  be  assigned 
hereafter.  In  the  mean  time  the  fact  of  such  interference, 
whose  authority  could  not  be  established  but  by  a  train  of 
splendid  and  awful  miracles,  deserves  to  be  distinctly  no- 
ticed. Was  there  not  then  an  evident  necessity,  that  God 
should  protect  the  Jews  from  all  harm  that  might  attend  on 
such  an  extra-judicial  proceeding?  As  all  mankind  had 
been  put  under  the  remedial  government  of  divine  grace,  and 
that  by  two,  if  not  by  three,  distinct  legislative  proclama- 
tions— in  Adam,  Noah  and  Abraham — how  could  Almighty 
God  consistently  throw  any  part  of  them  back  again  under 
law  ?  In  such  a  case,  would  he  not,  by  a  sovereign  act, 
have  made  their  condition  worse  than  it  was  before  ?  and 
have  required  of  them  that  which  they  were  not  able  to 
render?  And  is  this  his  method  of  dealing  with  men, 
whose  sorrows  excite  the  sympathies  of  the  universe,  and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  19 

over  which  his  Son  so  freely,  and  so  often  wept  ?  Let  his 
design  be  what  it  may,  necessarily  he  would  protect  and  se- 
cure the  rights  of  his  chosen  people.  And  accordingly  he 
pledged  himself  to  do  so,  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  their 
fathers;  in  connecting  the  righteousness  of  faith  along  with 
all  the  institutions  which  he  gave  them ;  and  by  ordaining 
the  law  in  the  hand  of  a  mediator.  Nor  only  so.  The 
Saviour  himself  "  delighted  in"  as  "  the  angel  of  the  co- 
venant,"  was  the  captain  of  their  hosts,  who  went  before 
them  while  they  were  in  the  wilderness,  and  finally  brought 
them  into  the  promised  land. 

Nor  is  this  all.  One  great  object,  which  was  not  lost  sight 
of  at  any  time,  was  to  afford  an  antecedent  course,  which 
the  force  of  circumstances  had  rendered  necessary,  by 
which  to  introduce  the  Messiah.  The  law,  by  its  own 
terms,  could  hold  its  official  relations,  and  authoritatively 
bind  on  the  Jewish  conscience,  only  until  the  Seed  should 
come  to  whom  the  promise  was  made.  It  was  a  mere 
schoolmaster,  instructing  a  pupil  while  yet  a  minor  ; — a  pre- 
paratory measure  to  qualify  an  heir  to  receive,  and  to  en- 
joy, his  inheritance.  Of  course;  the  inheritance,  when  he 
received  it,  would  fully  compensate  him  for  any  disciplinary 
severity  of  which  he  might  have  complained  ;  and  he  might 
be  soothed  and  thankful  when  the  advantages  of  his  train- 
ing should  become  apparent  even  to  himself.  And  if  the 
benefits  which  have  accrued  from  that  singular  dispensa- 
tion— "glorious,"  even  though  it  was  "  a  ministration  of 
death" — were  duly  appreciated  ;  or  if  we  should  estimate 
the  vast  amount  or  evidence  which  it  offers  in  behalf  of 
the  pretensions  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  demonstration 
of  the  impossibility  of  being  "justified  by  deeds  of  law," 
which  it  furnishes  ;  the  whole  world  might  praise  God  that 
he  had  so  peculiarly  distinguished  the  jews. — In  other 
words — The  Mosaic  law  belonged  to  a  series  of  means  by 
which  the  mediatorial  system  was  to  be  introduced ;  and 
that  system  must  not  only  secure  its  primary  object,  but 


50  LECTURES  ON 

guaranty  the  integrity  of  any  intermediate  measures  which 
were,  either  originally  or  casually,  necessary  to  its  intro- 
duction. If  the  operation  of  the  Mosaic  ritual,  as  an  inter- 
mediate measure,  was  attended  by  the  abounding  of  the  of 
fence;  then  the  mediatorial  system,  spreading  itself  out 
over  the  means  of  its  own  introduction,  must  display  the 
abounding  of  grace.  Hence  the  Redeemer,  in  being  put 
under  law,  was  put  under  it  in  its  Mosaic  form  ;  and  is  set 
forth  before  us  as  having  fulfilled  all  righteousness. 

But  I  have  another  use  to  make  of  this  seemingly  strange 
matter. — Some  theologians  have  sometimes  found  a  diffi- 
culty in  extending  the  phrases, — by  the  one  righteousness 
thl:  many  are  made  righteous,  and  by  the  righteousness 
of  one  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  unto  justifica- 
tion of  life, — some  theologians,  I  say,  have  found  great 
difficulty  in  extending  these  phrases  to  all  men.  They 
would  rather,  as  has  before  been  stated,  introduce  a  re- 
strictive principle,  of  which  no  notice  is  given  in  the  con- 
text, but  which  is  supposed  to  grow  Qut  of  a  covenant  be- 
tween the  Father  and  the  Son,  to  confine  these  terms  to 
the  elect.  But  were  not  the  jews  the  elect  of  God  ?  and 
was  not  the  apostle  reasoning  with  them  at  the  time  ?  Are 
they  not  put  into  contrast  with  others,  who  were  not  under 
law,  and  who  did  not  sin  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's 
transgression  ?  And  if  such  were  the  Jewish  circumstan- 
ces, and  distinct  provison  was  made  for  them  as  the  elect, 
to  whom  can  the  phrases  in  question  refer  but  to  all  men  ? 
Are  not  the  many  opposed  to  the  elect  ?  And  does  not 
the  simple  appellation — the  many — rebuke  all  such  prudish 
scruples  ?  There  is  nothing  left  for  us  but  to  take  the 
broad  principle  which  the  apostle  has  laid  down.  Adam  was 
a  figure  of  Christ.  And  as  all  men  are  constituted  sin- 
ners  by  Adam's  one  offence,  so  all  men  are  constituted 
righteous  by  Christ's  one  righteousness :  as  all  men  are 
brought  into  condemnation  by  Adam's  offence,  so  all  men 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT,  21 

are  brought  into  a  justification  unto  life  by  Christ's  right- 
eousness. 

The  mediatorial  work,  therefore,  consists  in  this,  that  it 
was  a  ministration  of  righteousness.  For  this  purpose  Christ 
was  made  under  law.  Righteousness  is  conformity  to 
law  ;  and  life  is  the  reward  of  that  conformity.  Christ 
having  rendered  this  righteousness,  as  our  .social  head,  pro- 
cures for  us  life.  Adam  and  himself  acted  under  the 
same  general  instrument;  and  as  the  offence  of  the  one 
brought  all  men  into  death,  the  righteousness  of  the  other 
brings  all  men  into  life.  Hence  the  Redeemer  is  so  fully 
and  unequivocally  declared  to  be  the  resurrection  and  the 
life — the  Lord  of  life  and  glory — whose  voice  shall  be 
heard  in  the  grave,  waking  up  all  the  dead.  Hence  it  is 
said,  that  ere  he  shall  surrender  the  kingdom  to  the  Father, 
death,  that  is,  temporal  death  as  we  term  it,  or  the  death 
of  the  body — though  the  last  enemy,  shall  be  destroyed. 
In  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  when  all  men  shall  rise 
to  die  no  more,  death  shall  be  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 

Thus,  agreeably  to  the  nature  of  law,  according  to  its  own 
terms,  and  as  it  had  been  exemplified  in  Adam's  case,  life 
is  the  result  of  righteousness.  The  facts  most  demonstrably 
sustain  the  theory  advanced :  and  not  only  in  reference  to 
Christ's  work,  but  in  view  of  Adam's  sin.  For  if  the  resur- 
rection from  the  dead,  as  exhibited  in  Christ's  coming  back 
from  the  grave,  and  as  it  shall  be  exhibited  at  the  last  day 
when  death  shall  be  swallowed  up  in  victory,  be  the 
contemplated  and  appropriate  result  of  his  obedience  to 
law,  then  Adam's  disobedience  could  only  introduce  that 
death  from  which  men  are  delivered  by  the  resurrection. — 
How  important,  in  the  remedial  plan,  is  the  Saviour's  re- 
surrection !  Its  "power"  in  relation  to  practical  godliness 
is  great,  as  Paul  most  aptly  and  beautifully  describes  it,* 
and  its  memorial,  as  it  returns  in  each  revolving  week,  can- 
not be  otherwise  than  refreshing  to  the  spiritual  mind. — 

*Phil.  iii.  8—11. 


2-2  LECTURES  ON 

Could  any  subject  more  interesting  than  the  connexion 
between  righteousness  and  life,  thus  luminously  set  forth, 
be  offered  to  the  consideration  of  an  intellectual  being?  No 
wonder  that  the  scriptures  employ  such  glowing  terms 
when  they  speak  on  this  lofty  theme  : — ''This  corruptible," 
they  say,  "must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must 
put  on  immortality.  So  when  this  corruptible  shall  have 
put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  im- 
mortality, then  shall  be  brought  to  pass  the  saying  that  is 
written, — Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory.  0  death, 
where  is  thy  sting  ?  0  grave,  where  is  thy  victory.  The 
sting  of  death  is  sin,  and  the. strength  of  sin  is  the  law. 
But  thanks  be  to  God  who  giveth  us  the  victory  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." — This  is  a  justification  unto  life. 
He  who  forfeits  its  blessings,  and  rises  to  everlasting  shame, 
does  so  by  his  personal  unbelief,  and  sinks  into  death  be- 
cause he  has  despised  the  abundant  overtures  of  grace 
divine. 

Supposing  that  Adam  had  obeyed  the  law,  and  brought 
in  "  a  ministration  of  righteousness"  instead  of  "a  minis- 
tration of  death"  what  would  have  been  its  legal  bearing? 
Certainly  his  posterity  would  not  have  died  a  "temporal 
death;"  or  that  death,  which  the  Redeemer  shall  destroy, 
should  not  have  entered  the  world.  In  other  words, — his 
children,  instead  of  having  been  involved  in  a  condemna- 
tion to  death,  would  have  obtained  a  justification  unto  life. 
This  happy  constitutional  result  would  have  come  upon 
all  men.  But  the  question  which  I  have  asked,  must  go 
farther.  We  must  inquire  how  "  a  ministration  of  right- 
eousness," brought  about  by  the  official  obedience  of  our 
first  social  head,  should  have  affected  the  personal  responsi- 
bility of  his  children  ?  Should  that  righteousness,  by  im- 
putation, have  conducted  them  to  eternal  glory,  and  thus 
have  nullified  the  whole  system  of  personal  responsibility  ? 
Should  there  not  have  been  an  indispensable  necessity, 
notwithstanding  Adam's  official  act,  that  every  human  be* 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  03 

ing  should  obey  the  law  written  on  his  own  heart,  and  by 
personal  holiness  become  meet  for  that  kingdom,  which 
flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  ?  And  if  the  contemplated 
operations  did  not  rest  on  an  imputation  which  absorbed 
all  personal  rasponsibility,  could  this  ministration  of  right- 
eousness have  served  any  other  purpose  than  as  a  splen- 
did and  magnificent  emblem  to  induce  to  personal  holi- 
ness ?  and  in  the  same  way  that  God's  own  display  or 
manifestation  of  himself  calls  for  our  imitation,  or  as  of- 
ficial excellence  alwa}7s  demands  attention  ?  This  would 
have  corresponded  with  the  nature  of  men,  as  obtaining 
their  ideas  through  the  medium  of  their  senses,  and  have  ex- 
hibited every  man  as  he  necessarily  is,  individually  account- 
able. Certainly  when  Adam  sinned  we  did  not  eat  the  for- 
bidden fruit;  and  as  certainly,  if  he  had  not  eaten,  we  should 
have  thereby  displayed  no  personal  virtue.  In  the  same 
light  is  Christ's  righteousness  to  be  viewed.  Its  imputa- 
tion to  us,  absorbing  our  personal  responsibility,  is  a  mere 
theological  chimera,  and  in  all  juridical  science,  a  down- 
right absurdity.  Every  human  being  who  shall  ever  reach 
heaven,  will  enter  there  on  the  principle  of  his  personal  holi- 
ness ;  and  every  one  who  shall  be  turned  into  hell,  shall  incur 
this  fearful  doom,  not  by  any  deficiency  of  the  mediatorial 
righteousness,  to  be  attributed,  either  to  itself  or  to  any  pur- 
pose respecting  its  application,  but  by  his  own  personal 
unholiness.  From  the  nature  of  the  case,  then,  and  from 
the  nature  of  man,  the  ministration  of  the  mediatorial 
righteousness  must  be  an  appeal  to  man's  outward  senses; 
and  be  intended  to  call  forth  all  his  personal  faculties,  on 
the  principle  of  personal  responsibility,  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  personal  sanctification  ; — without  which  sanctifica- 
tion  he  can  never  enjoy  an  entrance  into  the  kingdom  ef 
glory. 

Certainly  the  scriptures  take  this  very  method  of  illus- 
trating the  use  which  they  intend  us  to  make  of  the  subjects 
they  present  to  our  consideration. — "Be  ye  holy,  for  I  am 


24  LECTURES  ON 

holy;" — "be  ye  imitators  of  me,  even  as  I  am  of  Christ;" 
— "let  the  same  mind  be  in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ 
Jesus;" — "hereunto  were  ye  called,  for  Christ  has  left  us 
an  example  that  we  should  follow  his  steps."  Similitude 
is  in  fact  the  secret,  the  sacred,  the  philosophical,  operation 
of  social  life  ;  and  gives  to  the  divine  manifestations  on  the 
one  hand,  and  to  social  responsibility  among  men  on  the 
other,  all  their  energy  and  importance.  The  characteristic 
of  our  being  at  the  first  was,  that  we  were  made  in  the  im- 
age of  God ;  and  the  highest  benefit  which  can  be  bestow- 
ed on  a  race  of  sinners,  is  to  renew  them  in  knowledge, 
righteousness,  and  holiness,  after  the  image  of  him  that 
created  them.  The  very  end  and  design  of  the  divine  go- 
vernment is  to  preserve  the  likeness  on  the  principle  of 
personal  responsibility ;  and  of  course  to  make  such  an  ex- 
hibition as  shall,  by  the  excitement  and  exercise  of  those 
powers  for  which  man  is  accountable,  further  and  secure 
that  object.  And  when  the  whole  is  obtained,  and  the 
mediatorial  kingdom  is  absorbed  in  the  general  administra- 
tion, which  proclaims  God  to  be  all  and  in  all,  the  consum- 
mation supposes  that  we  shall  be  like  God.  There  is,  there- 
fore, no  other  principle  on  which  the  remedial  transactions 
of  Immanuel  could  be  constructed.  They  form  a  minis- 
tration which,  under  the  superintending  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  wakes  up  the  human  mind  to  consider  its  in- 
terests and  discharge  its  responsibilities.  The  view  thus 
disclosed,  as  I  think,  unfolds  the  only  principle  of  moral 
government  consistent  with  personal  responsibility,  and 
exhibits  the  glorious  import  of  the  gospel.  This  is  the 
channel  in  which  divine  favor  flows,  and  in  which  the 
riches  of  divine  grace  discharge  themselves  in  full  stream 
— a  river  of  life  deep  and  broad,  where  all  may  slake  their 
thirst,  and  suffer  no  more  forever. 

But  in  interpreting  the  work  of  the  second  Adam  as  "  a 
ministration  of  righteousness,"  and  thus  throwing  it  into  a 
systematic  arrangement  which  may  be  somewhat  novel, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  25 

you  may  Very  fairly  inquire,  what  is  the  place  which  the 
death  of  Christ  occupies  in  such  a  view  ?  Was  his  death 
necessary,  or  had  it  any  peculiar  efficiency  about  it? — Not 
only  is  the  inquiry  fair,  but  if  in  any  place  my  chain  of 
reasoning  is  weak,  we  have  now  in  our  hands  the  link  that 
will  break.  Nor  have  I  any  objection  that  the  whole  ca- 
tenation should  be  dissolved,  if  at  any  point  it  will  not 
bear  a  just  amount  of  pressure.  Truth,  brethren,  truth 
is  the  object  the  human  mind  is  searching  after.  The  Son 
of  God  came  into  the  world  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth. 

1.  The  Redeemer  came  to  "  finish  the  transgression,  to 
make  an  end  of  sins — the  one  offence  and  the  many  offences 
— to  make  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and  to  bring  in  ever- 
lasting righteousness."  In  this  variety  of  language  do  the 
scriptures  describe  his  work.  But  they  do  not  intend,  by 
multiplying  terms,  to  lead  us  away  from  its  great  cha- 
racteristic. The  Spirit,  to  whose  agency  is  committed  the 
application  of  evangelic  truth  to  the  human  mind,  convinces 
the  world  of  righteousness:  used  in  which  connexion  by 
the  Master  himself,  the  term  righteousness  covers  the 
whole  of  his  finished  work.  As  has  already  been  inti- 
mated, he  was  "made  under  law."  The  law  then  is 
the  measure  of  his  operations  ;  and  prescribes,  throughout, 
whatever  was  necessary  for  him  to  undertake.  Of  course 
he  must  die  because  the  law  had  been  broken. 

But  it  may  be  said,  that  if  Adam  had  obeyed  the  law, 
his  obedience  would  not  have  included  death.  True,  but 
his  obedience  would  have  been  the  righteousness  of  the 
law ;  because,  as  it  had  not  been  broken,  it  could  demand 
no  more.  If  more  had  been  required  than  mere  obedience 
to  the  precept  of  the  law,  then  mere  obedience  to  the 
precept,  in  his  case,  could  not  have  been  the  righteous- 
ness required.  But  now,  the  law  having  been  violated, 
and  a  case  of  transgression  being  called  into  judicial  con 
sideration,  righteousness  requires  something  more  than  mere 
obedience  to  precept.  Christ  was  not  only  made  under 
Vol.  II 3 


26  LECTURES  ON 

the  law,  but  was  put  under  its  curse ;  for  the  law  had  said, 
in  view  of  "  sin  worthy  of  death"  having  been  committed — 
"  cursed  is  every  one  thathangeth  on  a  tree."  The  expla- 
nation of  his  death  is  then  to  be  referred  to  the  law,  whose 
righteousness  he  came  to  fulfil.  Hence  it  was  said  by  one 
of  the  ancient  prophets — "The  Lord  is  well  pleased  for 
his  righteousness'  sake  ;  he  will  magnify  the  law,  and  make 
it  honorable." 

I  feel  no  concern  whatever,  to  sustain  the  theological 
distinction  between  Christ's  active  and  passive  obedience  : 
but  prefer,  with  the  apostle,  to  exhibit  an  entire  whole. 
The  apostle's  language  is — "Being  found  in  fashion  as  a 
man,  he  humbled  himself,  and  became  obedient  unto  death, 
even  the  death  of  the  cross."  In  fact,  when  the  scriptures 
speak  of  the  righteousness  of  the  Mediator,  they  uniform- 
ly include  under  that  term,  both  his  active  and  passive  obe- 
dience, considering  him  as  being  "made  perfect  through 
sufferings."  Thus  in  one  epistle,  "the  many  offences" 
committed  by  the  jews  are  represented  as  covered  by  his 
righteousness ;  and  in  another,  their  "redemption"  is  re- 
ferred to  his  "  death"  So  also  reconciliation  is  sometimes 
referred  to  the  whole  of  Christ's  work ;  as  in  the  passage 
quoted — "  God  is  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  him- 
self." And  again — God  "  hath  reconciled  us  to  himself 
by  Jesus  Christ,  and  hath  given  unto  us  the  ministry  of  re- 
conciliation" At  other  times  it  is  referred  to  his  suffer- 
ings or  death  : — "  And  that  he  might  reconcile  both  unto 
God  in  one  body,  by  his  cross" 

The  death  of  Christ  forms  the  distinguishing  part  of  his 
mediatorial  work.  Adam,  in  rendering  the  righteousness 
of  the  law,  would  not  have  died ;  because  the  law  had  not 
been  broken.  But  by  Adam's  transgression  we  are  consti- 
tuted a  race  of  sinners.  This  is  our  peculiarity,  and  Christ 
is  under  the  law  as  broken.  Hence  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  Christ  appear  so  conspicuous  in  the  scriptural  de- 
tails ;  but  they  are  not  intended  t®  supersede  in  our  minds 
the  idea  of  his  righteousness  as  a  whole.     A  part,  and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  27 

that  which  circumstances  have  rendered  the  most  promi- 
nent, is  put  for  the  whole  ;  while,  in  its  own  individuality, 
it  is  always  put  in  connexion  with  our  sin,  is  always  re- 
ferred to  the  fact  that  the  law  was  violated  and  its  penalty 
incurred,  and  is  always  represented  as  indispensably  ne- 
cessary. Often,  very  often,  do  the  inspired  writers  put 
this  matter  in  the  foreground,  as  the  very  perfection  of  our 
mediatorial  prince,  and  make  it  emblematic  of  the  whole 
of  christian  living.  "The  preaching  of  the  cross  is  to 
them  that  perish,  foolishness  ;  but  unto  us  which  are  saved, 
it  is  the  power  of  God."  "We  preach  Christ  crucified, 
unto  the  jews  a  stumbling  block,  and  unto  the  greeks  fool- 
ishness ;  but  unto  them  which  are  called,  both  jews  and 
greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God." 
"God  forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified  unto  me, 
and  I  unto  the  world."  "  I  am  crucified  with  Christ,  never- 
theless I  live ;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me  :  and  the 
life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the 
Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me."  "  We 
are  always  bearing  about  in  our  body,  the  dying  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  that  the  life  also  of  Jesus  may  be  made  mani- 
fest in  our  body." 

2.  But  the  scriptures,  in  explaining  the  death  of  Christ, 
not  only  fondly  display  its  legal  consistency  :  they  also 
compare  it  with  the  great  practical  object  which  a  "minis- 
tration of  righteousness"  was  intended  to  subserve.  God's 
grand  design  is  to  place  before  us  a  most  perfect  emblem  of 
that  which  he  would  desire  us  to  be.  This  design  is  appa- 
rent in  the  visible  representations  he  has  made,  down  from 
the  manifestation  of  himself,  personally  and  in  his  works, 
to  the  lowest  form  in  which  social  life  or  official  responsi- 
bility can  appear.  Such  is  the  essential  principle  of  go- 
vernment over  a  class  of  beings  who  are  distinguished  by 
personal  intelligence,  and  who  receive  their  ideas  by  means 
of  their  outward  senses.     Nor  can  a  wider  range,  for  the 


28  LECTURES  ON 

operation  of  such  a  principle,  be  any  where  presented,  than 
is  afforded  in  our  own  world  :  where  every  virtue  must  be 
acquired  and  maintained  in  the  midst  of  toils,  temptations 
and  sufferings.  To  "  learn  obedience  by  the  things  which  he 
suffered"  as  though  it  were  necessary  for  him  to  acquire 
his  ideas  in  the  same  way  that  ideas  are  acquired  by  our- 
selves, is  no  small  nor  uninteresting  part  of  the  Redeemer's 
work,  considered  in  view  of  its  practical  efficiency.  How 
cheering  and  refreshing  is  sympathy  to  a  sufferer !  It  is  the 
only  appropriate  connexion  in  which  the  social  affections 
of  the  human  heart  can  be  displayed,  when  suffering  is  to 
be  endured.  There  is  a  philosophic  coldness,  there  is  a 
stoical  apathy,  sustained  by  whatever  is  chilling  in  abstract 
principle,  which  strong  intellectual  men  often  mistake  for 
morality  ;  and  under  which  sensitive  minds  shrink  and 
writhe.  But  our  Master  occupied  a  different  position.  "  It 
behooved  him  in  all  things  to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren,, 
that  he  might  be  a  merciful  and  faithful  high  priest  in 
things  pertaining  to  God."  It  would  not  do  for  heaven  it- 
self to  be  too  hard,  or  in  any  way  too  severely  inquisitive ; 
not  that  Jehovah  does  what  is  wrong,  but  a  series  of 
practical  operations,  consistent  with  the  weakness  of  hu- 
man nature  must  be  sustained,  and  the  human  mind 
must  be  put  into  a  situation  where  it  might  act  freely  and 
unreservedly.  A  finer  view  of  social  life  could  not  be 
presented,  than  our  Redeemer's  work  presents  ;  nor  can 
any  more  be  justly  required,  even  by  theologians  themselves. 
But  now,  christians,  "  forasmuch  as  Christ  has  suffered  for 
us  in  the  flesh,  arm  yourselves  likewise  with  the  same  mind ; 
— Christ  also  hath  once  suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an  exam- 
ple that  ye  should  follow  in  his  footsteps."  His  death  was  a 
death  unto  sin,  and  teaches  us  to  "  mortify  the  deeds  of  the 
body,"  that  we  may  live: — one  of  the  most  important 
items  belenging  to  our  personal  responsibility. 

You  may  remember  thatin  a  formerlecture,*  when  speak- 
•Lecture  IV. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  «g) 

ing  on  the  subject  of  the  divine  manifestations,  I  had  occa- 
sion to  call  your  attention  to  the  peculiarity  and  the  force 
of  the  following  phrases — "Almighty  God" — "the  Spirit 
searcheih  all  things" — "the  Father  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath 
committed  all  judgment  to  the  Son."  This  language  serves 
to  show  that  Jehovah,  instead  of  leaving  our  little  minds  to 
struggle  in  vain  attempts  to  arrange  and  express  some  ade- 
quate conceptions  of  his  own  immensity,  has  exhibited 
himself  in  a  manner  which  is  suitable  to  our  apprehensions. 
A  similar  view  is  presented  to  us  here.  "It  behooved  Christ," 
says  the  apostle  Paul,  "to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren, 
that  he  might  be  a  merciful  and  faithful  high-priest. "  Doubt- 
less our  whole  case  is  spread  out  in  the  light  of  his  own 
countenance.  He  knows  all,  and  can  do  all,  if  his  own 
omniscience  and  omnipotence  are  alone  to  be  respected.  But 
something  else  is  to  be  taken  into  consideration.  He  could 
have  raised  up  children  to  Abraham  of  the  stones  of  the 
street;  but  the  scriptures  must  be  fulfilled.  So  whatever 
he  might  be  able  to  do,  viewing  simply  his  own  perfections, 
yet  the  peculiarities  of  our  nature  must  be  regarded  Hia 
mediatorial  administration  must  be  conducted  on  principles 
which  shall  correspond  with  our  intellectual  capacities. 
Sympathy,  like  love,  or  wisdom,  or  power,  or  justice,  must 
be  exhibited ;  or  his  priestly  services  would  not  fall  with- 
in the  range  of  our  perceptions.  His  sufferings  and  death, 
therefore,  resulted  from  a  necessity,  which  argues  no  defi- 
ciencies in  Jehovah,  but  some  peculiarity  in  our  own  con- 
stitution. It  became  God  to  make  the  captain  of  our  salva- 
tion perfect  through  sufferings  :  it  behooved  Christ  to  be 
made  like  \mio  his  brethren,  that  he  might  be  a  merciful  and 
faithful  high-priest.  Such  an  high  priest  became  us.  In 
that  he  hath  suffered,  being  tempted,  he  is  able  to  succor 
those  that  are  tempted.  The  necessity  for  the  death  of 
Christ,  is  like  the  necessity  for  a  divine  manifestation  in  the 
flesh.  The  whole  mediatorial  system  is  constructed  like  the 
original  system  of  creation ;  in  which  "the  elements  of  tfto 
3* 


30  LECTURES  ON 

world,"  with  their  varied  relations  and  operations,  are  em- 
blematic of  spiritual  realities.  Like  books,  written  by  the 
ringer  of  God,  intellectual  subjects  are  stated,  discussed, 
and  exemplified  in  them.  And  the  age  which  best  under- 
stands the  value  of  books,  should  best  understand  the  in- 
spired volumes  of  nature,  or  should  study  them  the  most 
intensely. 

3.  It  is  here  where,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  striking  and 
glorious  superiority  of  Christ,  as  the  second  Adam,  is  to  be 
Considered.  The  first  Adam  was  made  a  "living  soul" — 
capable  of  preserving  the  life  he  had ;  the  second  Adam 
was  made  "  a  quickening  Spirit" — able  to  restore  the  life 
which  had  been  lost.  The  nature  of  the  case,  and  the 
peculiarity  of  the  mediatorial  person,  alike  called  for  this 
distinction.  Mankind  were  to  be  raised  from  the  dead ;  and 
Christ  was  God  manifested  in  the  flesh.  In  view  of  the 
law,  and  of  the  nature  of  grace,  which  may  employ  any 
agency  that  is  not  inconsistent  with  law ;  and  in  view  of  a 
divine  manifestation,  in  which  all  the  features  of  the  origi- 
nal institute  must  be  preserved — of  which  a  change  from  a 
natural  into  a  spiritual  body  was  the  most  glorious,  because 
it  was  the  consummation  of  that  institute — any  superadded 
privilege  or  influence  which  was  called  for,  might  be  safely 
introduced : — safely,  I  mean  in  reference  to  ideas  which  the 
human  mind  can  form.  Now  that  Christ  should  be  "a 
quickening  Spirit,"  was  called  for  by  the  fact  that  all  men 
had  been  brought  into  death  by  Adam's  sin.  How  could 
he  then,  as  a  quickening  Spirit,  raise  man  from  the  dead, 
and  not  violate  the  essential  principles  of  the  moral  govern- 
ment which  had  been  established  among  men  ?  Through 
death,  says  the  apostle,  he  destroyed  him  that  had'  the  pow- 
er of  death.  The  dominion  of  death  being  thus  broken  up, 
grace  comes  in  to  act  out*her  own  character  ;  and  sets  off 
our  victorious  prince  with  all  the  glory  and  beauty,  all  the 
strength  and  majesty,  which  our  circumstances  could  call 
for ;  or  which  could  win  our  affection  and  gain  our  confi- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  31 

dence.  Not  that  any  work  of  supererogation  is  performed, 
for  the  mere  sake  of  show  ;  but  grace  is  exuberant,  though 
it  never  acts  inconsistently  with  law.  The  mediatorial  sys- 
tem has  no  deficiencies. 

Admitting  that  "  a  ministration  of  righteousness."  perfect 
in  all  its  parts,  and  furnishing  a  full  display  of  its  legal  at- 
tributes, had  been  constructed  by  Christ's  "  obedience  unto 
death,"  it  may  now  be  inquired,  whether  in  this  he  met  the 
whole  object  of  his  mediatorial  mission?  To  answer  the 
inquiry,  we  must  revert  again  to  the  scriptural  prototype, 
and  ask  what  else  Adam  would  have  done,  if  he  had  obe}r- 
ed  the  law  ?  This  retrospective  view  discloses  a  seconda- 
ry fact  of  great  interest.  The  most  superficial  observer 
would  discern  that,  the  knowledge  of  evil  should  not  have 
been  introduced  into  the  world,  if  our  first  father  had  not 
sinned.  In  other  words,  his  children  would  have  been 
placed  in  the  most  happy  circumstances,  in  regard  of  their 
personal  responsibility  ;  and  should  have  enjoyed  every  fa- 
cility by  which  they  could  be  assisted  in  discharging  their 
obligation.  A  corresponding  result  must  attend  on  Christ's 
righteousness  ;  so  that  believers  in  his  name  might  become 
personally  qualified  to  fulfil  their  duties,  and  secure  ever- 
lasting life.  Were  it  necessary,  we  have  now  an  opportu- 
nity of  descanting  on  the  various  means  of  grace,  which 
are  employed  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  to  affect  the  hu- 
man mind,  and  to  convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteous- 
ness, and  of  judgment.  The  evil,  which  has  been  in- 
troduced by  the  original  offence,  it  might  be  shown,  is  sanc- 
tified to  the  productien  of  ultimate  good.  The  tempter's 
power  is  broken,  or  his  kingdom  is  destroyed,  according  to 
the  terms  of  the  original  promise ;  so  that  the  believer  is 
brought  off  more  than  a  conqueror  through  him  that  loved 
him  and  gave  himself  for  him.  And  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  all 
the  plenitude  of  grace,  and  in  all  the  variety  of  the  kind- 
est offices,  would  attend  each  child  of  redeeming  love 
through  all  the  diversified  scenes  of  his  earthly  prilgrimage. 


32  LECTURES  ON 

But  all  these  matters  are  perfectly  familiar  to  every  chris- 
tian. He  is  already  acquainted  with  their  freeness  and  their 
fulness — they  are  the  common  topics  to  which  he  listens 
every  sabbath,  and  on  which  he  meditates  every  day. — A 
remark  or  two  only  I  think  to  be  necessary. 

The  original  promise  was  expressed  in  this  language — 
"I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  be- 
tween thy  seed  and  her  Seed ;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and 
thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."  The  principal  idea  here  stated, 
and  which  is  made  to  represent  the  whole  mediatorial  work, 
is  that  of  the  judgment,  by  which  Satan,  as  the  god  of  the 
world,  is  overthrown.  The  same  idea  is  frequently  advanc- 
ed in  the  new  testament,  in  explanation  of  the  Redeemer's 
work.  Thus — "Forasmuch  as  the  children  were  partakers 
of  flesh  and  blood,  he  also  himself  likewise  took  part  of  the 
same ;  that  through  death  he  might  destroy  him  that  had 
the  power  of  death,  that  is  the  devil." — For  this  purpose 
the  Son  of  God  was  manifested,  that  he  might  destroy  the 
works  of  the  devil." — "  Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world  ; 
now  shall  the  prince  of  this  world  be  cast  out." — "The 
prince  of  this  world  cometh,  but  hath  nothing  in  me."  The 
Spirit  "  shall  convince  the  world  of  judgment — because  the 
prince  of  this  world  is  judged." — This  event  was  achieved 
by  the  Redeemer's  death,  or  righteousness,  because  that 
was  the  fulfilment  of  the  law.  "  Now  as  "the  sting  of  death 
is  sin,  and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  /aw,"  the  power  of  Satan 
must  be  derived  from  the  lawT  as  broken.  Of  course,  when 
the  law  was  fulfilled,  his  power  was  destroyed,  his  kingdom 
was  overturned,  his  head  teas  bruised.  Any  poiver  which 
he  may  now  exert,  the  believer  is  perfectly  competent  to 
resist :  and  thus  the  promise  was  fulfilled. 

A  remark  or  two  in  relation  to  the  demoniacal  posses-, 
sions,  which  are  reported  as  having  occurred  under  the  Jew- 
ish dispensation,  will  not  here  be  out  of  place.  They  must 
be  referred  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  Mosaic  economy,  as 
being  a  government  of  law,  or  "  the  ministration  of  death 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  33 

and  condemnation."  The  Redeemer  informs  us  that  "  the 
devil  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning ;  and  Paul  tells  us 
that  the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  "through  death  destroy- 
ed him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is  the  devil."  The 
power  of  this  adversary  would,  therefore,  be  felt  under  a 
''ministration  of  death;"  or  his  influence  would  form  a 
part  of  the  symbolical  exhibition,  for  which  such  an  econo- 
my would  be  set  up.  The  "  works"  of  the  Saviour,  in  which 
he  designed  to  "take  away  the  sin  of  the  world,  implied, 
according  to  the  first  promise,  the  bruising  of  the  serpent' 3 
head  ;  and  consequently,  that  same  "  work,"  in  taking  away 
"the  many  offences"  committed  by  the  jews,  who,  in 
violating  law,  sinned  like  Adam,  would  destroy  the  power 
of  Satan  as  expressed  in  connexion  with  those  "many  of- 
fences." These  possessions  being  coincident  with  the  na- 
ture of  the  Jewish  dispensation,  the  miracles  which  their 
occurrence  afforded  the  Redeemer  an  opportunity  of  per- 
forming, would  furnish  the  most  appropriate  evidence  of  his 
messiahship.  And  accordingly  he  promised  that,  the  Holy 
Spirit  should  employ  this  evidence  in  that  way — "  He  shall 
convince  the  world  of  judgment,  because  the  prince  of  this 
world  is  judged." — From  this  argument  it  would  follow 
that,  these  possessions  cannot  occur  under  the  new  dispen- 
sation, inasmuch  as  it  is  "the  ministration  of  righteousness 
and  life ;"  or  it  follows  that,  Satanic  influence,  as  it  was 
connected  with  the  symbolic  character  and  operation  of  the 
Mosaic  economy,  has  been  destroyed. 

The  gentiles  officially  reprobated,  as  the  jews  had  been 
officially  elected,  were  placed  in  analogous  circumstances. 
Idolatry  is  often  declared,  by  inspired  writers,  to  be  "dark- 
ness and  death  ;  and  Satan  is  denominated  "  the  god  of  the 
world."  When  the  gentiles,  under  the  process  of  the  se- 
cond election,  were  called  into  the  church,  it  was  no  small 
part  of  the  blessedness  of  their  new  position,  that  they 
should  be  delivered  from  this  debasing  control;  and  hence 
Paul's  commission  was  to   be  fulfilled  by  "opening  their 


.34  LECTURES  ON 

eyes,  turning  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the 
power  of  Satan  unto  God."  The  second  election,  there- 
fore, by  contemplating  the  twofold  object,  or  by  introduc- 
ing the  gentiles  along  with  "a  remnant"  of  the  jews  into 
to  the  church,  displays  a  double- illustration  of  the  remedial 
agency  destroying  "the  works  of  the  devil." 

Here  I  cannot,  though  it  may  be  considered  to  be  an  un- 
looked  for  digression,  refrain  from  adverting  to  another  scrip- 
tural matter,  of  which  the  preceding  remarks  most  forcibly  re- 
mind me.  It  is  somewhat  singular  in  itself;  and  the  various 
opinions  which  commentators  have  advanced  in  relation  to 
it,  appear  to  me  entirely  unsatisfactory.  I  allude  to  the  in> 
precations,  which  so  frequently  occur  in  the  book  of  psalms. 
Perhaps  a  reference  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  dispensation 
under  which  the  psalmist  lived,  and  which  we  have  been 
reviewing,  may  clear  up  the  whole  difficulty.  The  Re- 
deemer himself  explained  a  parallel  case  by  such  a  refer- 
ence, when,  passing  through  Samaria,  the  inhabitants  of  a 
certain  village  refused  to  receive  him,  "because  his  face 
was  as  though  he  would  go  to  Jerusalem."  The  disciples, 
hurt  at  the  indignity  offered  to  their  Master,  asked  him  to 
permit  them  to  pray  for  fire  from  heaven,  even  as  Elias  did, 
to  consume  these  Samaritans.  Jesus  instantly  rebuked  the 
unreasonable  request: — "Ye  know  not  what  manner  of 
spirit  ye  are  of;  for  the  Son  of  Man  is  not  come  to  destroy 
men's  lives,  but  to  save  them."  To  save  their  lives — what 
is  the  force  of  his  reason  ?  or  how  does  it  bear  on  the  official 
character  and  conduct  of  Elias  ?  I  would  paraphrase  the 
Redeemer's  answrer  thus — "  Ye  know  not  the  nature  of  the 
dispensation  under  which  you  are  called  to  minister.  Such 
a  prayer  might  do  for  Elias,  who  officiated  under  a  minis- 
tration of  death ;  but  ye  are  called  to  officiate  under  a  min- 
istration of  life,  whose  head  is  a  quickening  Spirit — the 
resurrection  and  the  life — the  Lord  of  life  and  glory.*     If 

*  For  such  a  view  of  the  term  spirit,  see  Acts  xix.  2 — Rom-  viii. 
15—2.  Tim.  1.  7. 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  35 

then  the  dispensation  under  which  Elias  lived,  justified  his 
prayer,  or  if  his  high  official  character  entitled  him  to  inflict 
death,  the  penalty  of  the  law  whose  integrity  he  sought  to 
restore  ;  the  same  justification  may  relieve  David's  official 
character,  when,  viewed  either  as  a  prophet  or  a  king,  he 
appeals  to  the  great  head  of  the  nation — to  Jehovah,  con- 
cerning whom  Paul  says,  "our  God  is  a  consuming  fire" — 
to  sustain  his  own  law  by  the  infliction  of  its  known  and  in- 
curred penalties.  I  know  not  in  what  other  way  to  ex- 
plain, either  the  prayer  of  Elias,  or  the  imprecations  of  Da- 
vid. And  if  this  explanation  be  correct,  it  will  unques- 
tionably follow  that,  we  have  no  more  right  to  utter  the  im- 
precations of  David,  than  the  disciples  had  to  offer  the  pray- 
er of  Elias.  The  nature  of  the  new  dispensation  forbids 
both,  or  it  forbids  neither;  and  affects  praise  as  much  as  it 
can  affect  prayer. 

But  to  return.  Perhaps,  in  reference  to  the  mission  of 
the  Spirit,  it  may  be  asked,  how  can  He  be  said  to  be  sent, 
according  to  the  ideas  of  the  divine  manifestations  which  I 
have  advanced  ?  Observe  the  terms  in  which  the  Redeem- 
er speaks  on  this  subject : — and  when  "he  is  come,  he  will 
guide  you  into  all  truth ;  for  he  shall  not  speak  of  himself, 
but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear,  that  shall  he  speak ;  he  shall 
o-lorifv  me,  for  he  shall  receive  of  mine  and  shall  show  it 
unto  you."  Of  course  it  is  not  abstract  deity  to  which  your 
attention  is  called,  when  the  scriptures  refer  you  to  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  Spirit,  Jesus  said,  shall  not  speak  of 
himself.  All  the  phraseology  which  is  employed,  belongs 
to  Jehovah  as  manifested  in  personal  form ;  and  the  com- 
ing of  the  Spirit  is,  like  the  ascension  of  Immanuel,  a  trans- 
action which  derives  its  propriety  and  its  phrase  from  the 
nature  of  the  case.  On  the  principle  of  similitude,  which 
is  the  professed  object  of  the  whole,  and  on  which  all  the 
circumstances  are  made  to  turn,  there  is  no  more  difficulty 
nor  impropriety,  than  when  Paul  speaks  of  being  present  in 


36  LECTURES  ON 

spirit,  while  absent  in  body.  The  Spirit  of  a  manifested 
God,  or  of  a  visible  and  glorious  personage,  of  whom  spirit 
and  form  or  body  may  be  predicated,  might  be  said  to  come 
or  to  be  sent,  without  any  far-fetched  idea  being  presented 
to  the  mind.  We  can  have  no  other  ideas  of  God,  than 
those  which  are  attendant  upon,  and  consistent  with,  such  a 
manifestation  ;  and  any  incongruity  which  we  suppose  our- 
selves to  perceive  from  the  fact  of  the  Spirit  being  sent, 
arises  from  the  labored  and  unsatisfactory  attempt  we  have 
made  to  form  a  conception  of  abstract  deity. — Jehovah,  as 
manifested,  says,  my  Spirit,  in  the  same  way  in  which  any 
of  us  speak,  when  we  say — my  Spirit. — "The  spirit  of  the 
prophets  are  subject  to  the  prophets."  The  language  does 
not  barely  cover  the  idea  of  God's  sending  himself.  It  is 
God  manifested,  who  is  represented  to  us  as  both  spirit  and 
form,  who  says  my  spirit,  contradistinguished  from  form — 
that  form  being  removed  from  our  view.  We  no  longer 
know  Christ  after  the  flesh. 

The  object  of  the  mediatorial  work  is  to  reconcile  man 
to  God.  In  this  view,  I  presume,  any  one  may  distinctly 
recognise  a  remedial  operation,  which  addresses  itself  to 
man  as  a  free,  intelligent,  and  responsible  agent.  The  very 
term  imports  one  of  the  highest  intellectual  efforts  which  a 
rational  being  can  make  ;  implies  an  action  on  his  mind  of 
a  variety  of  considerations,  both  pleasing  and  active;  and 
indicates  a  state  of  heart  in  which  a  thousand  evil  passions 
may  have  been  repressed,  or  have  given  way  to  the  liveliest 
exercise  of  the  best  affections.  The  result  is  one  in  which, 
kindness  and  love,  argument  and  entreaty,  expostulation 
and  warning,  are  employed ;  and  where  mere  force  is  the 
feeblest  and  worst  of  all  means  that  can  be  used.  Accord- 
ingly both  "the  word"  and  "  the  ministry  of  reconcilia- 
tion," are  intellectual  in  their  character  and  influence  ;  and 
never  have  been  indebted  to  the  physical  arm  for  any  part 
of  the  moral  achievement  contemplated.  "Now  then," 
says  an  apostle,   "  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  though 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  37 

God  did  beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead, 
be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  Hence  it  is  that  we  are  charged 
not  to  resist.  Hence  it  is  that  we  are  required  to  believe. 
And  hence  it  is  that  the  fault  is  our  own,  if  we  are  not 
saved.  Having  eyes,  we  see  not ;  having  ears,  we  hear 
not;  and  having  hearts,  we  understand  not.  But  submit- 
ting ourselves  to  other  influences,  and  yielding  to  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh,  to  the  corruptions  of  the  world,  and  to  the 
temptations  of  Satan,  and  that  in  defiance  of  every  sugges- 
tion which  divine  kindness  has  made,  we  bring  everlasting 
ruin  on  ourselves. 

The  reconciled  man  exerts  all  his%  intellectual  energies 
under  the  directing  control  of  truth,  whose  evidence  has 
been  brought  home  demonstrably  to  his  own  mind,  while  all 
his  feelings  fully  accord.  He  mortifies  his  flesh,  "  keeps  his 
body  under,"  watches  against  temptation,  and  lives  above 
the  world,  that  he  may  walk  in  communion  with  God.  Christ 
is  in  his  heart  the  hope,  of  glory ;  and  he  lives  by  faith  on 
redeeming  love.  He  is  distinguished  by  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit,  who  dwells  in  him.  His  business  is  to  glorify  God, 
to  do  good,  and  finally  to  attain  to  everlasting  joy.  His 
treasures,  his  conversation,  his  heart,  are  all  in  heaven,  and 
he  is  patiently,  but  affectionately,  waiting  for  the  coming  of 
the  Lord.  His  path  is  like  the  shining  light,  which  "  shineth 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day."  "Drawn  with  the 
cords  of  a  man,  and  with  bands  of  love,"  he  leaves  the 
things  which  are  behind,  and  reaches  forward  to  the  things 
that  are  before.  And  when  at  last  he  has  finished  his  course, 
he  cheerfully  bids  the  world  adieu,  lays  off  the  panoply  in 
which  he  had  mantained  his  successful  conflict,  "wipes 
from  his  brow  the  dust  and  heat  of  battle,"  and  departs  to 
dwell  with  his  Lord  forever.  To  produce  such  a  change  in 
human  beings,  who  are  found  devoted  to  the  sensualities  of 
life,  and  alienated  in  their  minds  by  wicked  works,  is  the 
avowed  object  of  the  Mediator's  righteousness,  and  of  the 
Vol.  II.- 


59  LECTURES  ON 

Spirit's  operations.     And  the  whole  proceeds  from  setting 
up  the  kingdom  of  God  in  human  hearts. 

It  may  be  very  readily  conceived  how  the  righteousness 
of  Christ,  accomplished  by  his  becoming  obedient  unto  death, 
should  effect  this  reconciliation.     It  illustrates  and  exem- 
plifies the  connexion  between  righteousness  and  life,  which 
is  the  great  moral  lesson  we  have  to  learn  ;  and  which  consti- 
tutes the  very  elementof  our  intellectual  existence.    It  un- 
folds to  us  the  principle  of  moral  responsibility,  on  which  our 
everlasting  destinies  depend.     It  manifests  the  divine  per- 
fections with  all  their  attractive  influence  ;  and  exhibits  the 
goodness  and  portrays^the  love  of  God,  in  the  most  inviting 
and  gracious  form.     It  is  the  visible  and  demonstrative  in- 
terpretation of  all  those  moral  principles  which  are  appli- 
cable to  our  condition  as  subjects  of  the  divine  government, 
and  as  living  in  a  world  of  sin  and  sorrow.     It  affords  a  lu- 
minous and  lovely  portrait  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  by  be- 
holding or  reflecting  which,  we  become   changed  into  the 
same  image,  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord.     It  consecrates  a  hallowed  spot  where  the  Lord 
reveals  his  presence  ;  that  by  communion  with  him,  he  may 
leave  the  full  and  vivid  impression  of  his  own  pure^  and 
holy  character  upon  our  spirits.     It  creates,  and  bestows 
all  those  secondary  agencies,  through  which,  as  his  own  ap- 
pointed means,  he  holds  a  purifying  fellowship  with  our  in- 
most thoughts.     These,  and  such  like  results,  make  up  its 
characteristic  operations  in  a  sanctifying  process,  which  the 
Spirit  carries  on  within  us.     He  who  submits  his  heart  and 
yields  his  affections,  feels  himself  to  be  in  the  holiest  of  all, 
and  in  communion  with  his  heavenly  Father.     He  calls 
up  to  recollection  the  lusts  he  has  indulged,  the  sins  he  has 
committed,  the  mercies  he  has  abused  ;  and  how  freely  and 
copiously  he  weeps,  repenting  of  all  that  he  has  done  !    He 
looks  to  his  Saviour's  virtues  and  sorrows,  learns  the  nature 
of  his  own  being,  perceives  the  truth  of  the  gospel  brought 
home  to  him  "  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with  pow- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  39 

er,"  and  deeply  convinced,  he  believes.  He  listens  to  the 
promises  of  future  glory,  and  withdrawing  his  eyes  from 
the  vanities  of  life,  he,  in  the  full  swellings  of  hope,  trans- 
fers his  affections  to  heaven.  He  looks  around  upon  a  guilty, 
dying  world,  and — his  heart  bursting  with  the  tenderest 
sympathies  for  his  brethren — he  tells  them,  in  impassioned 
strains,  what  the  Lord  has  done  for  his  soul ;  seeks  to  con- 
vince them  that  there  is  a  living,  regenerating,  sanctifying 
influence  about  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  when  it  is  admit- 
ted into  the  heart ;  and  beseeches  them  to  be  reconciled 
unto  God. 

Ought  not  such  effects  to  follow,  if  the  gospel  be  what  it 
pretends  to  be;  if  man  be  an  intellectual  creature;  and  if 
Jehovah  communes  with  his  mind,  or  deals  with  him  on 
the  principle  of  personal  responsibility  ?  Must  not  such 
effects  necessarily  follow,  unless  the  hearers  of  the  gospel 
resist  the  moral  influence,  which  the  God  of  love  thus  brings 
to  bear  upon  their  own  intellectual  nature  ?  Is  not  power — 
power  to  reconcile,  to  regenerate,  to  sanctify,  to  elevate,  the 
human  mind,  and  analogous  with  the  operations  of  power 
in  all  other  directions — here  most  abundantly  disclosed  ? 
See  you  not  that  God  is  thus  working — working  mightily — 
in  you,  according  to  his  good  pleasure  ?  and,  by  his  Spirit, 
convincing  you  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment? 
Feel  you  not,  that  the  gospel  is  a  competent  instrument  of 
spiritual  action  on  your  own  hearts  ;  that  the  cross  of  Christ 
is  suited  to  your  earthly  condition ;  and  that  your  sympa- 
thizing high-priest  is  able  to  succor  you  in  your  temptation* 
— is  able  to  save,  even  to  the  uttermost,  all  that  come  unto 
God  by  him  ?  Have  you  ever  heard  a  "joyful  sound, 
like  it  ?  Has  the  proud  philosopher  ever  displayed  such 
wisdom  ?  or  the  haughty  formalist  ever  manifested  such 
power?  Behold,  sinner,  what  a  glorious  foundation  God 
hath  laid  in  Zion  !  Lay  down  your  weapons  of  rebellion  ? 
Quit  your  unbecoming  and  ruinous  strife  with  your  heaven- 
ly Father.     Listen  to  his  exhortations.  Harden  your  hearts 


40  LECTURES  ON 

no  more  against  the  yearnings  of  his  Spirit.  Calculate  not, 
that  after  you  shall  have  rejected  his  Son,  there  "  remaineth 
a  sacrifice  for  sin."  Think  not,  that  mercy  will  plead  your 
cause,  and  avert  your  impending  doom,  while  your  nature 
is  unsanctified,  and  your  soul  unreconciled.  Other  founda- 
tion no  man  can  lay,  than  that  which  is  laid,  even  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Reject  him,  and  you  are  undone  forever, 
because  there  is  no  other  medium  of  reconciliation — no 
method,  consistent  with  your  own  intellectual  nature,  by 
v/hich  you  can  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind.  An 
unholy  being  is  prepared  for  nothing,  either  in  his  own 
bosom,  or  according  to  the  established  principles  of  all 
moral  government,  but  perdition.  You  might  as  well  sup- 
pose that  a  hurricane  would  contribute  to  vegetation,  as 
imagine  that  an  unsanctified  man  would  be  meet  for  heaven. 
But  in  speaking  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  it  may 
farther  be  inquired,  what  connexion  it  has  with  the  "  ac- 
tual transgressions"  of  men  ?  or  those  which  are  committed 
by  them  as  living  on  their  own  responsibility  ? — In  the  text 
which  has  been  so  often  quoted  on  these  general  subjects, 
this  question  is  very  explicitly  answered  : — "God  is  in 
Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not  imputing 
unto  men  their  trespasses."  Can  any  other  explanation  be 
desired  ?  But  men  are  so  full  of  their  ideas  of  abstract 
justice,  and  reason  so  exclusively  on  principles  of  mere  law, 
that  they  have  substituted  a  series  of  theological  enigmas 
for  the  riches  of  grace.  Taking  their  own  range  of  thought, 
they  dwell  in  deepest  sadness  on  the  forbidding  and  chilling 
views  of  divine  sovereignty  which  they  have  formed  ;  and 
sit  down  wilted  and  writhing  under  the  frowns  of  an  angry 
Judge,  as  though  they  had  committed  the  unpardonable 
sin ;  when  they  should  have  laid  their  heads  upon  a  sa- 
viour's bosom,  and  drank,  yea,  drank  abundantly,  from  the 
fountain  of  his  forgiving  love.  How  often  we  have  yearn- 
ed over  such  troubled  spirits !  And  that,  when,  perhaps, 
we  have  scarcely  escaped  from  the  toils  ourselves  I 


moral  government.  41 

Let  us  inquire  after  the  principle.  Theologians  have  rea- 
soned from  the  nature  of  law.  But  are  we  under  law  ?  If 
we  are  not  under  law,  their  premises  are  inaccurate,  and  no 
wonder  their  conclusion  is  so  troublesome  ; — for  what  can 
the  human  mind  ever  gain  by  false  reasoning  ?  The  real 
fact  is,  that  we  are  not  under  lew,  but  are  under  grace.  The 
law  gives  sin  all  its  power;  but  being  under  grace,  "sin 
shall  not  have  dominion  over  us."  Christ  having  become 
the  end  of  the  law,  by  fulfilling  its  righteousness,  we  are 
placed  under  gospel  ;  and  our  inferences  must  now  be 
drawn  from  the  nature  of  grace.  And  what  may  we  not 
expect  from  grace  ?  What  will  not  the  God  of  grace  do  for 
us,  seeing  that  he  has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  sinner, 
and  has  loved  us  so  much  as  to  give  his  only  begotten  Son 
to  die  for  us  ?  Ke  is  our  loving  Father— what  may  his  chil- 
dren not  ask  for  ?  After  all  his  professions  and  declara- 
tions of  fatherly  kindness,  can  ministers  of  his  holy  sanc- 
tuary still  describe  him  as  keeping  up  a  judicial  process  on 
principles  of  inexorable  law,  urging  it  even  to  an  extremity — 
and  would  you  believe  them  ?  Would  any  of  you,  being  a 
father,  give  to  your  son  a  stone,  when  he  asks  for  a  piece  of 
bread  ?  or  a  scorpion,  when  he  asks  for  an  egg?  What  then 
mean  all  these  fine-spun  theories,  and  petrifying  denuncia- 
tions, which  drink  up  the  spirit  by  the  anguish  they  create, 
when  prophets  and  apostles  are  singing  and  preaching 
'  grace  divine,  and  when  the  providence  of  God,  in  "the 
riches  of  his  goodness,  forbearance,  and  long-suffering," 
stands  inviting,  commanding,  entreating,  reasoning,  expos- 
tulating— waiting  for  the  sinner  to  return  ?  Surely  minis- 
terial men  have  misunderstood  their  commission,  and  the 
christian  church  has  not  read  aright  the  charter  of  her  pri- 
vileges and  her  hopes.  And  yet  these  very  dogmas  which 
distort  our  heavenly  Father's  image,  and  pierce  our  own 
hearts  with  so  many  sorrows,  are  antique  traditions,  which 
official  men  are  so  laboriously  and  fiercely  defending,  and 
*4 


42  LECTURES  ON 

which    parents   are   so  inconsiderately  teaching  to  their 
children. 

Perhaps  my  remarks  may  be  charged  with  a  tendency 
to  licentiousness.  Does  such  a  tendency  belong  to  the 
nature  of  grace  ?  or  does  it  acquire  that  tendency  when  it 
is  put  into  contrast  with  law,  and  when  it  is  exhibited  as 
forming  the  characteristic  of  a  remedial  government  in  the 
hands  of  the  Son  of  God?  Is  a  reconciled  man  a  creature 
of  unbridled  lusts  and  unhallowed  propensities  ?  Or,  as 
Paul  would  express  the  idea,  "can  he  who  is  dead  to  sin, 
live  any  longer  therein?"  Is  there  any  immoral  or  anti- 
philosophic  attribute  belonging  to  an  administration  of 
love  ? 

But  then  are  not  our  actual  sins  pardoned  for  Christ's 
sake!  Most  assuredly.     The  scriptures  have  explicitly  de- 
clared the  fact.     We  are  all  called  upon  to  be  "kind  one  to 
another,   tender  hearted,  forgiving  one  another,   even  as 
God,  for  Christ's  sake,  hath  forgiven  us."     Nor  is  it  un- 
common with  the  bible  to  represent  us  as  pardoned  for 
Jehovah's  name  sake.     On  what  principle?     The  ground 
was  cursed,  and  might  have  been  blessed,  for  Adam's  sake. 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  would  have  been  saved  for  the  sake 
of  fifty,  or  even  of  ten,  righteous  men.  And  why  ?    If  the 
practical  result  of  Christ's  righteousness  be  to  reconcile  the 
world  ;  and  if,  when  the  mediatorial  kingdom  has  been  ac- 
complished,  the    redeemed   are  presented   as   personally 
holy,  should  pardon  for  their  many  transgressions  be  with- 
held?    Is  not  this  gracious  result  declared  in   the  text, — 
"God  is,  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not 
imputing  unto  men  their  trespasses?'1     What  would  you  do 
with  a  reconciled,  a  reformed,  a  holy  man  ?     What  would 
an  earthly  father  do  with  a  returning  prodigal?  Under  such 
circumstances  is-  not  forgiveness  natural,  wise,  equitable, 
and  right?  Has  not  God  explicitly  declared,  that — "If  we 
confess  our  sins,  He  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us 
our  sins,  and  to  cleanse   us  from  all  unrighteousness?" 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  43 

Could  the  issue  of  law  itself  go  any  further  than  to  make- 
holy  men  eternalty  happy  ?  And  would  not  all  this,  flow- 
ing from  the  practical  efficiency  of  the  Redeemer's  right- 
eousness, under  a  government  oflove,  be  the  fruit  of  grace, 
which  the  redeemed  may  celebrate  through  eternity  ? — 
Christ's  righteousness,  as  perfected  by  his  death,  thus  be- 
comes the  propitiation,  or  that  official  transaction,  on 
whose  principles,  as  intrinsically  excellent,  as  most  happi- 
ly appropriate  to  the  case,  and  as  sustained  by  the  law  it- 
self, God  can  be  favorable  to  our  world,  and  by  which,  or 
for  whose  sake,  he  may  extend  pardon  freely  and  fully, 
without  infringing  on  the  nicest  point  of  government. 

It  may  be  farther  objected,  that  the  doctrine  advanced 
exhibits  the  sinner  as  justified  by  the  merit  of  his  own 
works.  To  this  I  reply,  that  merit  is  another  theological  . 
term,  whose  technical  obliquity  has  injured  many  a  spiritu- 
al mind.  Besides,  it  is  a  term  which  belongs,  in  the  com- 
mon use  that  is  made  of  it,  to  the  administration  of  law, 
under  which  we  do  not  live.  As  to  justification,  its  details, 
though  much  involved  by  theological  sophistry,  are  very 
plain  and  simple  on  the  scriptural  page.  No  man  ever  can 
be  "justified  by  deeds  of  law,"  or  obedience  to  law  ab- 
stractedly considered  ;  because  no  man  can  obey  the  law  ab- 
is  what  "  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through 
the  flesh."  Here  arises  the  necessity  for  a  Mediator.  This 
Mediator  having  obej-ed,  or  fulfilled  the  righteousness  of 
the  law,  all  men  who  had  been  previously  brought  into 
condemnation  by  Adam's  sin,  are  brought  into  a  justifica- 
tion of  life.  That  righteousness  being  produced,  all  men 
are  put  under  the  mediatorial  government,  and  are  requir- 
ed to  believe  and  obey  the  gospel,  on  their  own  personal 
responsibility,  and  under  institutions  of  grace  which  are 
most  favorable  to  the  discharge  of  that  responsibility.  He 
that  believeth  is  "justified  by  faith,"  he  that  believeth 
not  is  condemned  for  his  unbelief.  And  at  the  last  day, 
when  "God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ, 


44  LECTURES  ON 

according  to  the  gospel,"  every  man  shall  stand  justified 
or  condemned,  according  to  the  facts  belonging  to  his  indi- 
vidual case. — "  I  say  unto  you,"  said  the  blessed  Master, — 
"  That  every  idle  word  that  men  shall  speak,  they  shall 
give  account  thereof  in  the  day  of  judgment.  For  by  thy 
words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou  shalt 
be  condemned."  And  again  I  ask,  what  else  would  you  do 
with  a  righteous  man  than  justify  him  ?  or  with  an  unright- 
eous man  than  condemn  him  ?  But  theologians  have  con- 
founded "  deeds  of  laws,"  predicated  of  the  government 
of  law,  and  irrespective  of  a  Mediator,  so  much  with 
"works"  performed  under  the  mediatorial  administration 
of  the  gospel,  that  every  plain  reader  of  the  bible  is  thrown 
into  perpetual  perplexities  ;  and  no  one  can  tell  the  precise 
place  or  value  of  good  works. — True  they  tell  us,  that  good 
works  are  evidences  ;  but  are  not  deeds  of  law  evidences 
too?     The  question  is  not  f  I,  and  hence  the  dif- 

ficulties which  have  arisen. 

I  may,  perhaps,  be  censured,  as  having  left  out  of  view 
altogether  the  atonement.  But  this  certainly  would  be 
most  careless  and  uncandid  misapprehension.  For  I  have 
been  most  distinctly  portraying  the  reconciliation  to 
vour  view.  Go  back  again,  and  see  if  such  be  not  the  fact. 
I  have  not  used  the  word — atonement,  it  is  true.  And 
are  all  your  ideas  to  be  thrown  into  confusion,  your  preju- 
dices to  be  called  up  in  all  their  vigor,  and  a  scriptural  ar- 
gument to  be  scorned  as  unworthy  of  consideration,  be- 
cause a  particular  word  has  not  been  used  ?  Do  you  not 
see  what  an  unhappy  strife  has  been  gendered  by  words! 
Oh,  but  the  word  atonement,  you  will  say,  is  too  important 
to  have  been  left  out !  Then  I  must  assign  my  reasons  for 
the  omission.     And, 

1.  After  all  the  talk  about  it,  the  word  occurs  in  our 
translation  of  the  new  testament  but  once  ;*  and  there,  as 
every  greek  scholar  knows,  the  original  term  so  translated. 

*Rom.  v.  11. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  45 

ought  to  have  been  rendered  re conciliation.  What  then  is 
the  meaning  of  all  this  difficulty,  which  is  so  constantly 
felt  in  relation  to  it  ?  One  would  have  supposed  that  the 
word  occured  on  every  page  of  the  new  testament. — It 
will  not  do  to  reply  that  the  thing  itself  is  every  where  pre- 
sented ;  for  the  thing  itself  I  have  endeavored  most  faith- 
fully to  describe. 

2.  The  etymology  of  the  word  evinces  it  to  be  per- 
fectly consistent  with  the  argument  stated.  Ment  is  the 
common  termination  adopted  to  form  a  noun  :  as  for  exam- 
ple— -pumsh-ment,  bland'ish-ment,  refresh-me?it ,  accomplish- 
ment.  So  here,  ztone-ment.  The  termination  ment,  is 
merely  added  to  the  two  words  at  and  one,  and  makes  at- 
one-ment,  which  means  the  being  at  one,  or  agreed,  or 
reconciled. 

3.  The  word  has  a  technicality  about  it,  which  employs  it 
to  represent  something  in  theological  controversy,  that  is 
different  from  the  official  object  which  it  is  intended  to  de- 


signate. 


I  shall  hereafter  use  the  term  in  this  particular  sense,  or 
as  importing  reconciliation. 

This  mediatorial  work,  Christ  as  a  prophet  proclaims  ;  as 
a  priest  he  performs  it;  and  as  a  king  he  has  been  exalted 
to  administer,  or  reign  on  its  principles.  He  is  "a  merci- 
ful and  faithful  high  priest,"  he  is  exalted  to  be  a  "Prince 
and  a  Saviour,  to  give  or  grant  repentance  unto  Israel  and 
remission  of  sins;" — and  this  is  the  mediatorial  adminis- 
tration under  which  we  all  live  ;  under  which  all  have 
lived  from  the  beginning,  or  since  the  first  promise  was 
given ;  and  by  which  all  shall  be  judged  at  last. — May 
God  Almighty  give  us  wisdom  to  appreciate  the  privi- 
leges of  grace,  that  we  may  be  found  ready  for  judgment 
at  last ;  and  that  it  may  not  be  our  condemnation  that  we 
refused  to  believe  in  and  obey  him,  who  by  his  righteous- 
ness has  brought  us  all  into  a  justification  of  life. 


46  LECTURES  ON 


LECTURE  XII. 


•Application  of  the  mediatorial  constitution — General  views 
—  Origin  of  Election — Object  of  the  covenant  with 
Abraham — Mature  and  Reason  of  the  two  "  covenants" — 
Condition  of  the  gentiles — Light  of  Mature — Priesthood 
of  Melchisedec — Priesthood  in  general— Design  of  election. 

The  extent  of  the  mediatorial  institute  is  a  subject  of 
very  great  interest.  No  theological  point  has  called  forth 
more  argument,  or  excited  more  feeling.  It  has  already 
been  presented  incidently  in  the  preceding  lecture.  The 
nature  of  the  institute  could  not  have  been  discussed  with- 
out stating  its  extent ;  because  the  terms  of  the  apostolic 
argument,  which  I  have  been  endeavoring  to  analyse,  in- 
cluded both  subjects.  In  f  xct,  the  nature  of  the  Redeemer's 
work  cannot  else  be  ascertained.  If  Adam's  transgression 
involved  the  whole  race,  so  that  all  are  constituted  sinners 
and  are  brought  into  condemnation,  and  Christ's  righteous- 
ness  did  not  extend  to  the  whole  race,  so  that  all  are  con- 
stituted righteous,  and  are  brought  into  justification  of  life  ; 
then  Adam  could  not  have  been  a  figure  of  Christ. 
Much  less  could  the  abounding  of  grace  over  sin  have  been 
sustained.  Such  is  the  view  afforded  by  the  apostle ; — a 
view  which  includes  both  the  efficacy  and  the  application 
of  the  remedial  statute. 

All  the  general  principles  on  which  I  have  been  reason- 
ing lead  to  the  same  result.  Jill  mankindh&ve  been  brought 
into  a  state  of  sin  and  condemnation  by  a  fault  not  their 
own;  all  the  principles  of  justice  and  equity,  from  which 
the  mediatorial  constitution  itself  arises,  are  necessarily 
due  to  all,  and  necessarily  applicable  to  all.     The  theolo- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  47 

gical  restrictions  which  have  been  arbitrarily  imposed, 
and  ingeniously  and  variously  defended,  instead  of  confer- 
ring a  favor  on  some,  take  away  a  right  from  all ; — a  right 
belonging  to  man's  existence,  and  awarded  by  the  very 
constitution  of  our  being. 

The  divine  attributes,  of  which  the  mediatorial  constitu- 
tion forms  so  beautiful  a  display,  necessarily  bring  all  men 
under  the  remedial  operation  which  that  constitution  has 
introduced.  Controvertists  speak  of  the  goodness,  and 
wisdom,  and  power,  and  righteousness  of  Jehovah,  in  a  sys- 
tem of  government  which  does  not  respond  to  the  person- 
al responsibility  of  its  subjects  ;  which  not  only  leaves  them 
unpitied  and  unassisted  in  a  train  of  sorrows  and  infirmi- 
ties, that  are  not  to  be  traced  to  their  own  sin  ;  but  which 
condemns  them  as  personally  responsible  under  its  admin- 
istration, and  for  favors  and  privileges  that  have  not  been 
bestowed.  It  is  impossible  that  any  argument  should  jus- 
tify such  proceedings  ;  or  that  the  scriptures  should  state 
any  views  of  the  divine  character  so  inconsistent  with  its 
essential  attributes. 

The  nature  of  man,  as  being  qualified  to  acquire  ideas  bv 
means  of  his  corporeal  senses,  renders  it  as  practicable  to 
apply  a  remedial  ordinance  to  all  as  to  one.  One  man 
will  be,  on  all  accurate  and  consistent  principles,  as  respon- 
sible as  another  man,  for  that  which  he  sees,  hears,  and  has 
a  "heart  to  understand.''''  And  no  reason  can  be  assigned 
why  any  man  should  not  be  under  the  common  moral  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  divine  government,  any  more  than 
that  a  reason  can  be  assigned  why  any  man  shall  not  enjoy 
the  common  privileges  of  his  existence. 

The  nature  of  the  remedial  institute,  or  the  mediatorial 
righteousness  of  the  Son  of  God,  being,  as  has  been  shown, 
an  exterior  exhibition  addressed  to  the  human  spirit  through 
the  bodily  senses,  brings  one  man  within  its  range  as  well 
as  another  man.  A  doctrine  of  election  cannot  be  sustain- 
ed under  those  circumstances,  which  excludes  any  man 


48  LECTURES  ON 

from  seeing,  hearing  or  knowing.  And  hence  it  is,  that  the 
condemnation  of  men  does  not  consist  in  this,  that  there 
was  no  light,  but  that  the  light  did  shine,  and  they  loved 
darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil. 
Their  condemnation  is  this — "That  which  may  be  known 
of  God,  is  manifest  among  them ;  for  God  hath  showed  it  un- 
to them." — But  "  they  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness; — 
when  they  knew  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as  God — they 
did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge."  Such  are 
the  scriptural  comments  on  the  subject.  God  does  not,  by 
any  sovereign  legislation,  render  it  impossible  for  men  to 
know,  love,  and  obey  the  truth.  The  mediatorial  righte- 
ousness of  the  second  Adam  is,  like  the  sun  in  the  firma- 
ment, intended  for  all — and  all  may  enjoy  the  light  and 
heat  if  they  will.  Our  ecclesiastical  lords  would  limit  di- 
vine grace,  and  curtail  the  blessings  of  reconciliation  by  ar- 
bitrary statute ;  but  God  spreads  his  tender  mercies  over  all 
his  works. 

In  the  chapters  before  us  it  is  certainly  as  plain,  that  the 
promise  given  after  the  fall,  expresses  the  mode  of  admin- 
istration to  which  Adam  and  his  children  were  subjected: 
as  that  the  law,  promulged  in  paradise,  included  himself 
and  children  in  its  operations.  They  were  all  without  any 
exception  exposed  to  death,  reduced  to  toil  and  sorrow,  and 
involved  alike  in  the  same  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 
They  all  have  the  same  attributes  of  character,  the  same 
mental  and  corporeal  faculties,  and  are  placed  in  the  same 
circumstances  of  life. 

It  may  be  said  that  all  these  effects  were  the  results  of 
Adam's  sin,  and  prove  nothing  in  favor  of  our  argument. 
Be  patient  for  a  moment. — Theologians  do  not  mean  to 
abandon  their  own  ground,  as  that  was  formerly  exhibited  ; 
viz.  that  the  sentence  executed  was  not  equal  to  the  sen- 
tence threatened.*  If  they  do  abandon  their  ground,  then 
as  "mankind  would  not  be   spiritually  dead  in  Adam,  they 

*  Lecture  VII. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  49 

would  be  under  the  mediatorial  institute.     If  theologians 
do  not  abandon  that  ground,  then,  by  their  own  showing, 
all  mankind  are  under  a  penalty,  whose  operations  are  re- 
stricted by  the  mediatorial  institute.     They  may  take  either 
side  of  this  dilemma.     But  still  farther,  all  those  other  cir- 
cumstances, which  attended  on  the  early  annunciation  of 
the  Saviour,  and  which  were  purely  mediatorial  in  their  re- 
ferences, are  as  universal  in  their  application  as  the  conse- 
quences of  Adam's  sin.     The  enmity  between  mankind 
and  the  serpent — the  cherubim — the  sacrificial  institution — 
the  idea  of  Jehovah  manifested  in  the  form  of  man,  or  of 
a  virgin-born  Elohim — all  of  which  are  purely  evangelical, 
and  are  every  where  to  be  noticed  among  men,  or  go  as  far 
as  death  and  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  have  gone.  Or 
if  these  distinct  matters  are  lacking  under  any  particular 
condition  of  society,  the  mediatorial^m  is  prominent  in 
some  peculiar  and  interesting  form. — The  universality  of 
the  mediatorial  symbols  offers  an  irrefragable  argument  in 
behalf  of  the  universality  of  the  institute  itself.     While 
all  these  details  are  instructive  and  evident,  there  is  notin- 
corparated  with  them  any — not  even  the  most  distant — 
hint  of  any  election  restricting  the  operation,  or  application 
of  the  mediatorial  plan.     Election,  as  the  term  is  used  by 
the  inspired  writers,  comes  into  view  long  afterwards  ;  and 
for  specific  purposes,  which  shall  be  stated  in  their  own 
place.     Tbe  mediatorial  institute  is  the  present  and  the 
gracious  legislation  of  divine  wisdom,  framed  in  coincidence 
with  man's  personal  reponsibilities ;  and  you  must  either 
admit  its  universality,  or  deny  those  responsibilities. 

The  particular  text  which  I  have  quoted  as  interchange- 
able with  the  first  promise,  and  which  I  selected  on  account 
of  the  precision  of  its  terms,  ascribes  the  very  same  lati- 
tude to  the  mediatorial  work. — "  God  was  in  Christ,  recon- 
ciling the  world  unto  himself." — The  World. — I  am 
fully  aware  of  the  exception  which  may  be  taken  to  this 
term,  inasmuch  as  it  is  sometimes  to  be  understood  in  a  limit-* 
Vol.  II.— 5 


50  LECTURES  ON 

ed  sense.  But  it  is  not  always  to  be  so  considered.  The 
exception  may  be  cheerfully  conceded  ;  and  yet,  notwith- 
standing, the  most  fastidious  theologue  must  admit  that  the 
world  may  mean  the  world.  And  perhaps,  when  he 
shall  carefully  observe  the  use  of  the  term  in  the  new  tes- 
tament, he  may  find  it  utterly  impossible  to  sustain  its  limit- 
ed sense,  in  application  to  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  by 
any  ingenuity  which  may  be  employed.  This  philological 
difficulty  I  shall  now  endeavor  to  bring  distinctly  to  view  : 
and  for  this  purpose,  shall  arrange  the  texts  I  may  quote  in 
three  distinct  classes. 

1.  "The  Word,  who  was  afterwards  made  flesh,  was 
in  the  beginning  with  God;  and  the  Word  was  God.  All 
things  were  made  by  him;  and  without  him  was  not  any 
thinf  made,  that  was  made.  He  was  in  the  world,  and  the 
world  was  made  by  hjm,  and  the  world  knew  him  not."  The 
idea  here  asserted  is  very  frequently  stated  in  the  scriptures 
in  other  language  :  thus — "  By  him  were  all  things  cre- 
ated that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  in- 
visible." He  is  "the  heir  of  all  things" — the  Son  be- 
in°-  the  heir  of  the  Father's  official  prerogative,  which  ex- 
tended to  all  things.  Throughout  the  old  testament  too 
the  God  of  Israel  is  continually  represented  as  the  Crea- 
tor of  heaven  and  earth. 

To  the  Word  also  has  been  ascribed  the  whole  work  of  a 
sustaining  and  overruling  providence.  "  Who  being  the 
brightness  of  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his  person, 
and  upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power." 
"  By  him  all  things  consist." 

The  remark  that  I  wish  to  make  upon  this  class  of  texts, 
which  every  reader  of  the  scriptures  knows  might  have 
been  much  enlarged,  is,  that  the  world,  meaning  all 
things,  was  made  by  him  who  was  "  in  the  form  of  God." 
Of  course,  when  "the  Word  was  made  flesh"  and  taber- 
nacled among  men,  he  came  into  his  own  world  which  he 
himself  had   framed,  and  which  he    continually  upheld. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  51 

Hence  the  apostle  John  remarks — "  He  came  unto  his  own, 
and  his  own  received  him  not."  What  is  there  unseemly  or 
incongruous  in  the  idea  that  the  Redeemer  should  come 
to  save  and  bless  Ms  own  ?  It  may  be  replied,  that  the  apos- 
tle refers  in  that  phrase  to  the  Jewish  nation  ;  or  as  Paul 
would  say — "  his  own  house."  That  may,  or  may  not  be 
so.  It  may  not  be  so,  because  they  who  did  not  receive 
him,  were  those  who  did  not  know  him ;  but  they  are  not 
stated  to  have  been  the  Jews  ;  for  in  the  preceding  verse  it 
is  said — "  He  was  in  the  world  and  the  world  was  made  by 
him,  and  the  world  knew  him  not."  But  let  the  terms,  his 
own,  be  restricted  to  the  Jews,  yet  still  his  own  did  not  re- 
ceive him,  and  nothing  is  made  out  for  the  "  limited  atone- 
ment," which  is  appropriated  to  the  elect;  because  the 
elect,  agreeably  with  the  doctrine  maintained  concerning 
them,  will  receive  him.  And  if,  by  any  show  of  argument, 
the  elect  could  here  be  introduced  as  the  objects  of  his  me- 
diatorial kindness,  yet  they  become  so  by  virtue  of  his  par- 
ticular property  in  them,  as  being  given  to  him  by  the  Fa- 
ther. But  this  idea  of  property  will  destroy  the  argument 
it  is  intended  to  support ;  for  the  whole  world  is  his  proper- 
ty, inasmuch  as  he  made  it.  So  also  Paul  reasons  in  his 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Nor  can  any  fair  reason  be  assign- 
ed why  the  Redeemer,  as  being  God  manifested,  should  not 
bless  the  world ;  seeing  that  the  Creator,  by  whom  the 
world  was  made,  was  God  manifested. 

2.  The  Redeemer  is  declared  to  be  invested  with  all 
power  in  heaven  and  in  earth  ;  to  have  all  things  ^ut  under 
his  feet ;  to  be  the  head  over  all  things,  unto  whom  even- 
knee  shall  bow,  and  every  tongue  shall  swear.  He  is  also 
said  to  be  "the  seed"  of  Abraham;  and  Abraham  is  de- 
signated as  "  the  heir  of  the  world,"  and  that  too  by  vir- 
tue of  the  righteousness  of  faith.  Noah  also,  who,  every- 
one knows,  was  the  heir  of  the  world,  is  emphatically  styled 
"  the  heir  of  the  righteousness  of  faith  ;"  then,  the  world, 
as  such;  has  a  deep  interest  in  all  that  belongs  to  the  rights 


5-2  LECTURES  ON 

eousness  of  faith,  which  is  the  very  peculiarity  of  the  medi- 
atorial institute ;  so  that  Christ,  as  Mediator,  has  the  whole 
world  put  into  his  hand,  governs  it  by  mediatorial  law, 
and  awards  to  it  mediatorial  privileges. 

It  is  true,  that  various  dispensations  have  been  establish- 
ed, some  of  which  have  conferred  their  special  favors  on 
certain  portions  of  mankind.  The  patriarchal  dispensation, 
erected  with  Adam,  and  afterwards  revived  with  Noah,  was 
universal  in  its  application.  It  was  mediatorial,  for  its  cha- 
racteristic was  the  righteousness  of  faith ;  and  yet  it  was 
co-extensive  with  the  world.  The  Mosaic  dispensation 
was  confined  to  the  Jews.  And  the  new  testament  dis- 
pensation has,  thus  far,  been  actually  ©onfined  to  a  part  of 
the  gentiles.  But  these  two  latter  dispensations  were  not 
designed  to  shut  out  the  rest  of  the  world  from  the  benefits 
of  the  first,  as  though  they  had  no  interest  in  the  righteous- 
ness of  faith,  which  had  been  preached  to  them  from  the 
beginning.  So  far  from  such  a  denunciation  being  the  ob- 
ject of  the  two  subsequent  "ministrations,"  they,  in  com- 
mon with  the  first  dispensation,  were  set  up  by  the  Re- 
deemer himself,  as  Paul  explicitly  declares  : — "  God  hath," 
he  says,  "in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son, 
whom  he  hath  appointed  heir  of  all  things,  by  whom 
also  he  made  the  worlds,  or  dispensations,  or  ages.  The 
Jewish  ritual  he  enacted  as  "  being  in  the  form  of  God ;" 
and  the  gospel  he  has  proclaimed  as  "  the  Word  made 
flesh."  Both  of  these,  "the  law"  and  "the  gospel,"  he  has 
established  for  special  purposes,  which  I  shall  presently  un- 
dertake to  explain  ;  but  neither  of  them  was  intended  to 
set  aside,  or  to  revoke,  mediatorial  law,  as  given  to  all  men 
immediately  after  the  fall ;  and  therefore  neither  of  them 
militates  against  the  broad  fact  that  he  is  the  Saviour  of  THe 

WORLD. 

3.  <f  you  will  carry  along  with  you  the  two  previous 
classes  of  texts  which  I  have  quoted,  you  will  be  prepared 
to  see  the  full  force  and  beauty  of  those  which  follow.  "  He 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  53 

that  sowed  the  gr0od  seed  is  the  Son  of  man ;  the  field  is 
the  world:'  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son." — "  God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world,  to 
condemn  the  world,  but  that  the  world  through  him  might 
be  saved." — "And  this  is  the  condemnation,  that  light  is 
come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved  darkness  rather  than 
light." — "  The  gospel — which  is  come  to  you,  as  it  is  in  all 
the  world." — "And  we  have  seen  and  do  testify,  that  the 
Father  sent  the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world:' — 
"  And  he  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins  ;  and  not  for  ours 
only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world." — "  Who  will 
have  all  men  to  be  saved,  and  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth." — "  We  trust  in  the  living  God,  who  is  the  Sa- 
viour of  all  men,  specially  of  those  that  believe." — "For 
the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  salvation,  hath  appeared  unto 
all  men" 

These  texts  seem  to  be  sufficiently  explicit,  and  have 
afforded  ample  scope  to  the  textual  expositor  to  display  his 
ingenuity,  in  forcing  them  under  sectarian  restrictions.  Nor 
is  anything  more  easy,  nor  injudicious,  than  to  embarrass  a 
momentous  subject  by  verbal  criticism,  as  the  whole  of 
moral  science  has  abundantlv  demonstrated.  Few  reason 
on  general  principles  ;  and  a  little  philological  acumen  en- 
ables a  sectarian  to  carry  his  party  feelings  and  views  a  great 
length.  The  present  subject  has  been  long;  abused  bv  this 
technical  refinement.  But  if  you  shall  recollect  and  apply 
the  general  views  which  have  been  stated,  you  will  find 
them  adequate  to  disembarrass  your  own  mind ;  and  you 
will  feel  that  a  just  interpretation  of  scriptural  terms  will 
throw  no  impediments  in  your  way. 

The  real  truth,  however,  is,  that  the  doctrine  of  a  "lim- 
ited or  definite  atonement"  is  necessary  to  maintain  the 
doctrine  of  "  election,"  individually  considered,  which  has 
been  so  zealously  advocated.  They  are  twin  sisters.  Our 
argument,  therefore,  necessarily  requires,  that  we  should 
endeavor  to  ascertain  the  biblical  form  of  election.  That 
5* 


54  LECTURES  ON 

there  is  an  election  asserted  in  the  scriptures,  no  one  can 
deny.  It  appears  there,  plain  and  distinct,  both  in  language 
and  fact ;  to  evade  it  is  childish,  and  to  oppose  it  is  dishon- 
est. But  to  explain  it  fairly  belongs  to  the  expositor ;  and 
on  no  class  of  expositors  is  the  responsibility  to  explain 
more  imperiously  pressing,  than  on  those  who  maintain  that 
each  individual  is  personally  accountable. 

To  me  it  seems,  that  election,  as  stated  in  the  scrip- 
tures, is  purely  official;  or  if  there  be  any  exception  to  this 
view,  it  shall  be  explained  in  its  own  place.  I  mean  to  say, 
that  according  to  the  scriptures,  election  is  an  appendage 
of  "  the  two  covenants"  which  have  been  introduced  since 
the  call  of  Abraham.  Certain  it  is,  that  God-  did  at  one 
time  elect  the  jews,  and  that  at  another  time  he  did  elect 
the  gentiles,  to  be  his  particular  people.  In  the  one  case, 
then,  the  jews,  and  in  the  other  case  the  gentiles,  would 
very  properly  be  called  God's  elect.  They  severally  stood 
in  a  peculiar  relation  to  him,  according  to  a  "  purpose  of 
election."  This  statement  is  not  to  be  controverted;  for 
the  scriptures  have  presented  it  in  full  delineation,  both 
historically  and  doctrinally. 

Election,  however,  has  been  considered  as  a  divine  pur- 
pose, setting  apart  a  certain  number  of  mankind,  which 
number  can  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished,  to  ever- 
lasting life  ;  and  reprobating,  or  passing  by,  the  rest  as  heirs 
of  eternal  death.  But  supposing,  as  I  do,  that  election  is 
co-eval  with  "the  two  covenants,"  that  view  of  it,  which 
is  dogmatically  enough  declared  to  be  orthodox,  seems  to 
me  to  be  a  palpable  abuse  of  its  terms  and  design.  Nor 
only  so  ;  but  it  also  appears  to  me  that  God  himself,  fore- 
seeing the  misinterpretation  of  his  own  high  and  hoi}*  pur- 
poses, framed  the  Abrahamic  covenant  in  order  to  preserve 
the  integrity  of  the  mediatorial  constitution  ;  and  to  prevent 
any  collision  between  the  two  latter  covenants  and  the  gos- 
pel scheme  itself.  To  explain.  The  Mosaic  ritual  was 
enacted  under  the  covenant  made^vith  Abraham ;  and  un- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT  55 

der  the  Christian  economy  all  believers  are  said  to  be  the 
children  of  Abraham.  Of  course,  the  law  given  by  Moses 
could  not,  as  Paul  argues  in  his  epistle  to  the  galatians,  be 
contrary  to  the  promise  given  to  Abraham.  His  language 
is  very  explicit — "  And  this,  I  say,"  he  observes,  "that  the 
covenant  that  was  confirmed  before  of  God  in  Christ,  the 
law,  which  was  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  after,  cannot 
disannul,  that  it  should  make  the  promise  of  none  effect." 
Now  the  promise  was  given  to  Abraham  as  "the  heir  of 
the  world"  and  did  actually  constitute  him  such.  •  Thus  it 
is  expressed — "In  thee  shall  all  nations  be  blessed." 
That  is,  the  promise  given  to  Abraham  included  all  nations  ; 
the  law  given  by  Moses,  included  only  the  nation  of  the 
jews,  as  God's  elected  people.  If  then  there  be  any  mean- 
ing in  terms,  the  limited  operation  of  the  law  given  to  the 
jews,  as  Jehovah's  elect,  according  to  Paul's  doctrine,  was 
not  intended  to  countervail  the  universality  of  the  gospel, 
which  had  been  preached  to  Abraham  as  the  heir  of  the 
world.  Accordingly,  when  the  apostle  finds  the  jews  rea- 
soning on  erroneous  views  in  relation  to  their  own  peculiar 
privileges,  and  arguing  the  rejection,  or  reprobation,  or  pass- 
ing by,  of  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  as  though  they  had  no 
interest  in  the  gospel,  he  flies  at  once  to  the  Abrahamic 
covenant,  in  order  to  demonstrate  their  error.  Such  in  fact 
is  the  argument  he  maintains,  in  the  very  epistle  and 
chapter  from  which  our  quotation  has  been  made.  Chang- 
ing terms,  we  conceive  that  his  argument  is  equally  appli- 
cable to  the  ideas  of  God's  purpose  of  election,  which  have 
since  been  so  strenuously  maintained. 

The  relative  position  of  these  different  covenants  appears 
to  be  as  follows : — After  the  fall,  when  God  gave  the  pro- 
mise of  the  Seed  of  the  woman,  he  made  Adam  a  second 
time — a  covenant  head-*-or,  if  you  please,  a  patriarchal 
chief,  to  his  race.  Through  him  he  promulgated  to  the 
world  the  mediatorial  institute,  or,  as  Paul  would  express 
it.  "the  righteousness  of  faith."     After  the  deluge,  he  in- 


56  LECTURES  ON 

vested  Noah  with  this  official  pre-eminence,  and  thus  again 
proclaimed  to  the  world  the  righteousness  of  faith.  In  pro- 
cess of  time  an  emergency  occurred,  which  required  another 
divine  interference,  and  a  new  act  of  legislation  became  ne- 
cessary. Nor  was  it  an  easy  matter  to  interfere  ;  because  any 
measures  which  might  be  adopted  would  necessarily  affect 
the  organization  of  society.  On  a  former  occasion,  and  un- 
der a  similar  emergency,  the  process  which  the  great  go- 
vernor of  the  world  adopted,  and  which  he  promised  never 
again  to  repeat  while  time  should  last,  was  summary  and 
terrible — he  brought  in  the  flood,  and  the  whole  race,  with 
a  very  small  exception,  perished  beneath  his  awful  rebuke. 
Now  again  he  comes  down  in  judgment ;  yet  under  promise 
that  he  would  not  desolate  the  earth.  But  what  should  he 
do  ?  It  is  manifest,  that  however  lenient  his  proceedings 
might  be,  a  new  organization  must  take  place  :  and  an  or- 
ganization which,  whatever  its  provisions  might  be,  must 
not  make  matters  worse  than  it  found  them.  The  plan  which 
infinite  wisdom  devised,  and  which  has  been  styled  the 
mystery  of  the  divine  will,  eventually  proved  to  be  the 
division  of  mankind  into  nations,  and  this  very  election, 
of  which  the  scriptures  so  frequently  speak.  God  intend- 
ed thereby  to  relieve  the  new  series  of  difficulties  which 
had  occurred.  And  accordingly  Paul  traces  up  the  law  of 
Moses  to  them,  as  their  origin  ;  for  he  asserts  that  "  the  law 
was  added  because  of  corruptions"* — which  had  been 
introduced  since  the  flood. 

Election  ? — But  the  whole  world  had  become  corrupt- 
ed. Abraham  himself  and  his  fathers  were  idolaters.  Thus 
the  elected  alone  could  enjoy  divine  favors,  and  the  rest 
of  mankind  would  be  reprobated,  or  passed  by.  Jehovah 
would  be  the  God  of  the  jews,  but  not  the  God  of  the  gen- 
tiles. Not  at  all,  says  the  apostle.  He  is  "the  God  of  the 
gentiles  also  ;  seeing  it  is  one  God  who  shall  justify  the  cir- 
cumcision by  faith,  and  the  uncircumcision  through  faith." 

*Gal.  iii.  19. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  57 

Not  at  all,  says  Moses;  for  "  God  loveth  the  stranger:" 
and  made  Abraham  the  heir  of  the  world  that  all  nations 
might  be  blessed  in  him,  as  they  had  been  in  Noah,  and 
Adam  before  him.  He  was  exalted  to  the  same  official  pre- 
eminence, and  secured  the  same  evangelical  boon — even  the 
righteousness  of  faith.  And  the  purpose  of  election,  which 
was  carried  out  into  execution  four  hundred  and  thirty  years 
after,  could  not,  and  did  not,  interfere  with  the  righteous- 
ness of  faith,  in  which  all  mankind  had  a  like  interest. 
Manifestly  then, 

1.  The  gentiles  were  still  under  the  patriarchal  dispensa- 
tion ;  which  was  mediatorial  in  all  its  attributes,  and  had 
conveyed  to  them  all  its  ordinances.  Wretchedly  as  they 
corrupted  the  revelation  which  had  been  made  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  repeated  by  Noah,  yet  the  incarnation  and 
sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God,  as  promised  and  typified,  were 
the  very  sources  of  their  exceedingly  strange  mythology. 
They  were  not  removed  from  the  influence  of  patriarchal 
privileges ;  but  while  they  became  more  and  more  idolatrous, 
their  very  idolatry  proclaims  their  evangelical  origin.  It  is 
no  uncommon  thing  for  theologians  to  urge  the  universality 
of  sacrifice  in  proof  of  its  divine  authenticity. 

2.  The  whole  series  of  transactions  with  which  Jehovah 
filled  up  the  Israelitish  history,  was  done  before,  or  in  pre- 
sence of,  the  gentiles.  Egypt  marvelled,  and  Canaan  trem- 
bled. These  things  were  not  done  in  a  corner.  All  men 
heard  of  them  ;  all  men  saw  them.  "  These  statutes,"  said 
Moses  to  them,  "  are  your  wisdom  and  understanding^  the 
sight  of  the  nations,  which  shall  hear  all  these  statutes,  and 
say — Surely  this  great  nation  is  a  wise  and  understanding 
people."  Considered,  therefore,  as  having  an  official  char- 
acter, the  Mosaic  ritual  was  aluminous  and  instructive  dis- 
play to  the  gentiles  themselves,  which  might  have  checked 
their  idolatrous  career,  and  taught  them  the  most  profitable 
lessons.     So  that  the  purpose  of  election,  which  consecrat- 


58  LECTURES  ON 

ed  the  jews  as  a  peculiar  people,  did  not  involve  the  utter 
reprobation  of  the  gentiles. 

The  reprobation,  or  passing  by,  of  the  gentiles,  or  their 
being  left  in  their  former  position,  would  not  go  beyond  an 
official  transaction ;  but  would  refer  simply  to  an  external 
dispensation,  whose  privileges  were  not  conferred  on  them. 
Accordingly  Moses  was  required  to  deliver  the  following 
message  to  the  Israelites — "Ye  have  seen  what  I  did  unto 
the  Egyptians,  and  how  I  bare  you  on  eagle's  wings,  and 
brought  you  unto  myself.  Now  therefore,  if  ye  will  obey 
my  voice  indeed,  and  keep  my  covenant,  then  ye  shall  be 
to  me  a  peculiar  treasure  above  all  people,  although 
all  the  earth  is  mink  :  and  ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  king- 
dom of  priests,  and  an  holy  nation."  And  again,  Moses  said 
to  them — "The  Lord  your  God  is  God  of  gods,  and  Lord  of 
lords,  a  great  God,  a  mighty,  and  a  terrible,  which  regard- 
eth  not  persons,  nor  taketh  reward.  He  doth  execute  the 
judgment  of  the  fatherless  and  widow,  and  lovetii  the 
stranger  (one  of  another  nation)  in  giving  him  food  and 
raiment.  Love  ye  therefore,  the1  stranger;  for  ye  were 
strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt." 

3.  The  gentiles  having  these  avital  privileges,  and  others 
which  accrued  to  them  from  the  election  itself,  the  apos- 
tle Paul,  in  his  great  epistle  to  the  Romans — where  he  is  ar- 
guing on  the  grand  principles  of  Jehovah's  moral  govern- 
ment, and  that  too  in  view  of  the  purpose  of  election — de- 
clares that  they  are  not  condemned,  saving  for  their  own 
fault.  His  reasoning  is  very  plain.  "  That  which  may  be 
known  of  God,"  he  observes,  "is  manifest  in  (among)  them  ; 
for  God  hath  showed  it  unto  them.  For  the  invisible  things 
of  him  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  be- 
ing understood  by  the  things  that  are  made,  even  his  eter- 
nal power  and  Godhead  ;  so  that  they  are  without  excuse ; 
because  that,  when  they  kqew  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as 
God,  neither  were  thankful,  but  became  vain  in  their  imagi- 
nation, and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened.     Even  as  they 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  59 

did  not  like  to'retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them 
up  to  a  reprobate  mind."  Surely  such  a  case  is  not  to  be 
resolved  into  an  inscrutable  sovereignty,  whose  proceed- 
ings are  aside  of  any  known  judicial  principles  :  neither 
does  any  difficulty  occur,  too  great  for  our  minds  to  reach, 
and  the  reasons  of  which  belong  to  the  awful  secrets,  that 
the  last  day  shall  disclose.  The  whole  matter  is  very 
plain. 

But  the  apostle  goes  further  in  his  explanatory  statements, 
and  shows,  that  the  gentiles  not  only  have  the  outward 
manifestation  of  which  he  had  spoken,  but  that  they  have 
personal  qualifications  of  a  corresponding  character  and  ex- 
tent. "  For,"  he  says,  "  when  the  gentiles,  which  have  not 
the  law,  do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  these, 
having  not  the  law,  are  a  law \  unto  themselves  ;  which 
show  the  work  of  the  law,  written  in  their  hearts,  their  con- 
science also  bearing  witness,  and  their  thoughts  the  mean- 
while accusing;,  or  else  excusing,  one  another."  Surely 
the  gentiles  are  not  destitute  of  moral  attributes,  for  they 
"  show  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts ;"  neither 
are  they  incapable  of  exercising  their  moral  powers,  for 
they  do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  and  their 
consciences  are  ever  bearing  witness.  Moral  questions  and 
judicial  principles  are  familiar  to  them,  for  they  are  ever 
debating  such  things  with  one  another. 

The  apostle  does  not  leave  us  yet,  but  states  distinctly 
the  relative  condition  of  the  gentiles.  The  jews,  he  says, 
have  the  law  of  Moses;  and  the  gentiles  have  notthelaw  of 
Moses.  The  jews  do  under  the  law  of  Moses,  wThat  the 
gentiles  do  by  nature.  Of  course,  the  jew  shall  be  judged 
by  the  law  of  Moses,  under  which  he  has  been  placed ; 
but  the  gentile  shall  be  judged  without  the  law  of  Moses. 
Both  shall  be  called  into  judgment,  and  shall  be  dealt  with 
according  to  their  circumstances.  The  gentile  who  has  sin- 
ned^lthout  the  law  of  Moses,  shall  perish  without  the  law 
of  Moses;  and  the  jew  who  has  sinned  in  (under)  the  law 


60  LECTURES  ON 

of  Moses,  shall  be  judged  by  the  law  of  Moses.  And  this 
judgment,  which  shall  call  up  the  secrets  of  men,  shall  be 
conducted  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  according  to  the  gospel:  so 
that  the  gentile,  who  cannot  be  judged  by  the  law  of 
Moses,  because  he  is  not  under  it,  must  be  under  the  gos- 
pel, seeing  that  he  shall  be  judged  "according  to  the 
gospel." 

To  draw  out  the  case  at  full  length,  says  the  apostle, — 
"  God  will  render  unto  every  man  according  to  his  deeds; 
to  them  who  by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing,  seek  for 
glory,  and  honor,  and  immortality,  he  will  render  eternal 
life  :  but  unto  them  that  are  contentious,  and  do  not  obey 
the  truth,  but  obey  unrighteousness,  he  will  render  indig- 
nation and  wrath.  He  will  render  tribulation  and  anguish 
upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil  :  of  the  jew  first, 
and  also  of  the  gentile ,  but  he  will  render  glory,  honor,  and 
peace,  to  every  man  that  worketh  good  ;  to  the  jew  first, 
and  also  to  the  gentile.  For  there  is  no  respect  of  persons 
with  God."  This  statement,  one  would  think,  might  satisfy 
the  most  fastidious  theologian,  and  demonstrate  to  him  that 
the  gentile — that  the  whole  world — is  not  under  law,  but 
under  the  mediatorial  institute. 

One  other  view  may,  however,  yet  present  itself,  in  which 
the  scriptures  sustain  a  comparison  between  jews  and 
gentiles.  Our  apostle,  in  this  same  epistle,  describes  the 
jews  as  living  under  divine  forbearance.  "  Dost  thou,"  says 
he,  addressing  himself  to  the  jew,  "despise  the  riches  of 
his  goodness,  and  forbearance,  and  long  suffering;  not 
knowing  that  the  goodness  of  God  leadeth  thee  to  repen- 
tance ?"  Again  he  asserts,  that  "  God  hath  set  forth  Jesus 
Christ  to  be  a  propitiation,  through  faith  in  his  blood,  to  de- 
clare his  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past, 
through  the  forbearance  of  God."  So  then  the  jew  is  go- 
verned in  forbearance. — The  apostle  elsewhere  declares 
the  gentile  to  be  similarly  situated.  "  The  living  G§d," 
he  observes,  "  which  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  seas, 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  61 

and  all  things  that  are  therein,  in  times  past,  suffered  all 
nations  to  walk  in  their  own  way-  Nevertheless,  he  left  not 
himself  without  witness,  in  that  he  did  good,  and  gave  us 
rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our  hearts 
with  food  and  gladness."  And  again  : — "  God  that  made 
the  world,  and  all  things  therein,  seeing  that  he  is  Lord  of 
heaven  and  earth,  dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with 
hands  ;  neither  is  worshipped  with  men's  hands,  as  though 
he  needed  any  thing,  seeing  that  he  giveth  to  all,  life,  and 
breath,  and  all  things ;  and  hath  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men,  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 
hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed,  and  the  bounds 
of  their  habitation  ;  that  they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply 
they  might  feel  after  him,  and  find  him,  though  he  be  not 
far  from  every  one  of  us :  for  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and 
have  our  being ;  as  certain  also  of  your  own  poets  have 
said — '  For  we  are  also  his  offspring.'  Forasmuch  then  as 
we  are  the  offspring  of  God,  we  ought  not  to  think  that  the 
Godhead  is  like  unto  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by  art 
and  man's  device.  And  the  times  of  this  ignorance  God 
winked  at."  From  all  this  it  is  evident,  that  the  gentiles 
were  objects  of  divine  forbearance,  as  well  as  the  jews ; 
that  if  Jehovah  had  given  to  the  latter  a  law^  the  first  had 
his  witness  among  them',  preaching  his  goodness,  and  ur- 
ging them  to  seek  him.  His  "purpose  of  election"  does 
not  then  involve  the  reprobation,  or  passing  by,  of  the  gen- 
tiles ;  unless  it  be,  as  has  been  observed,  so  far  as  a  mere 
official  object  was  concerned. 

According  to  this  train  of  argument,  it  may  be  asked, 
what  benefits  did  the  jews  derive  from  being  God's  elected 
people?  I  was  fully  aware  of  the  objection  implied  in  this 
question ;  and  if  I  had  not  been,  the  apostle  himself  would 
have  warned  me  of  it.  The  argument  which  he  maintain- 
ed in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans,  was  conceived  to  be  liable 
to  the  same  objection ;  and  the  question  was  asked  of  him — 
•"  What  advantage  then  hath  the  jew,  or  what  profit  is  there 
Vol.  II.— 6 


02  LECTURES  ON 

of  circumcision?"  To  this  he  promptly  replied — "Much 
every  way ;  chiefly  because  that  unto  them  was  committed 
the  oracles  of  God."  They  had  favors  conferred  on  them, 
which  the  gentiles  did  not  receive.  To  the  Israelites  per- 
tained "the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and  the  covenants, 
and  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  the  service  of  God,  and  the 
promises,  and  the  fathers ;  and  of  them,  concerning  the 
flesh,  Christ  came,  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever." 
All  these  privileges,  which  formed  so  peculiar  a  system  of 
tuition  and  multiplied  so  much  the  means  of  obtaining  in- 
formation, were  surely  very  great,  and  presented  an  inter- 
esting spectacle  to  the  world.  Education,  afforded  either 
by  a  divine  or  a  human  instructor,  is  always  a  benefit,  as  far 
as  truth  and  knowledge  are  acquired.  But  still  these  pri- 
vileges were  not  so  great  as  to  warrant  the  inference,  that 
all  the  rest  of  the  world  were  deprived  of  their  ancestral 
rights  ;  that  the  patriarchal  dispensation,  with  its  traditions 
and  institutions,  was  useless ;  or  that  the  non-elect  were 
handed  over  to  perdition.  Because  one  man  may  have 
ten  talents  bestowed  on  him,  it  does  not  follow  that  another 
must  surrender  his  one  talent.  In  fact  the  jews  had  drawn 
that  inference  ;  and  it  was  one  of  the  apostle's  objects,  in 
the  epistle  referred  to,  to  show  its  total  irrelevancy. 

But  there  is  another  point  brought  up  to  view  by  the 
quotations  that  have  been  made,  and  which  is  entitled  to 
careful  consideration.  We  hear  a  great  deal  about  "the 
lio-ht  of  nature  ;"  and  it  forms  the  matter  of  debate  in  the 
deistical  controversy.  Now  the  question  is — what  is  the 
light  of  nature  ?  It  has  been  explained  by  some  as  the  light 
which  Adam  enjoyed  before  he  fell.  The  general  idea  on 
the  subject,  it  is  presumed,  is  different,  and  rather  repre- 
sents the  light  of  nature  as  opposed  to  revelation.  Strictly 
speaking,  these  two  views  are  the  same ;  but  when  em- 
ployed in  actual  discussion,  they  are  widely  different.  For 
the  term  revelation  is  then  confined  to  the  scriptures,  which 
have  been  given  under  the  two  dispensations.     All  those, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  63 

therefore,  who  have  not  received  these  special  oracles, 
live  under  the  light  of  nature.  With  this  latter  view  I 
agree ;  but  I  cannot  adopt  the  farther  explanations  which 
are  given.  The  Westminster  assembly,  for  example,  make 
this  remark: — "Although  the  light  of  nature  and  the 
works  of  creation  and  providence  do  so  far  manifest  the 
goodness,  and  wisdom,  and  power  of  God,  as  to  leave  men 
inexcusable,  yet  they  are  not  sufficient  to  give  that  know- 
ledge of  God,  and  of  his  will,  which  is  necessary  to  salva- 
tion." Now  this  appears  to  me  to  be  entirely  one-sided — 
a  species  of  government  which  is  all  penalty.  For,  on  the 
supposition  that  an  individual,  placed  under  the  light  of 
nature,  should  act  up  to  its  dictates,  he  gains  nothing — rhe 
cannot  be  saved.  And  yet  if  he  acts  not  up  to  its  dic- 
tates, he  is  inexcusable ,  and  comes  into  condemnation  on 
account  of  his  aberrations.  Surely  such  an  exhibition  of 
the  government  of  God  among  men  cannot  be  just :  nor 
do  the  scriptures  offer  any  thing  to  justify  it. 

It  will  avail  nothing  to  say,  that  no  individual  can  com- 
ply with  the  dictates  of  nature  ;  and  that  therefore  it  is  per- 
fectly useless  to  state  the  case.  For  certainly  mankind  are 
excusable  in  not  doing  that  which  they  cannot  do.  If  it 
should  be  asserted  by  any  one  that  the  fact  is  totally  differ- 
ent, and  that  men  may  be  condemned  for  not  doing  what  it 
was  impossible  they  should  do,  he  must  be  conscious  that 
his  own  mind  revolts  from  such  a  statement.  He  must  feel 
that  he  has  cast  on  the  divine  government  an  imputation  of 
the  very  worst  sort,  which  nothing  can  palliate.  It  will  not 
relieve  the  difficulty,  to  appeal  to  the  sovereignty  of  God  : 
that  reply  would  indeed  change  the  terms,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  would  only  repeat  the  imputation.  Nor  will  it  an- 
swer any  better  purpose  to  quote  Paul's  question — "  Nay, 
but  0  man,  who  art  thou  that  repliest  against  God?"  For 
the  question  is  altogether  irrelevant  to  the  matter  in  hand, 
as  shall  hereafter  appear. 

The  texts  which  we  have  been  considering,  have  been 


64  LECTURES  ON 

advanced  in  proof  of  the  Westminster  assembly's  doctrine. 
But,  as  we  are  not  under  their  jurisdiction,  and  have  no 
belief  in  their  infallibility,  we  beg  leave  to  re-examine  the 
texts  for  ourselves.  Paul  certainly  does  not  offer  a  view 
of  the  divine  government  so  palpably  defective.  According 
to  his  account,  the  gentiles  were  not  inexcusable,  because 
they  did  not  do  what  it  was  impossible  they  should  do: 
but  "because  that,  when  they  knew  God,  they  glorified 
him  not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful :  but  became  vain 
in  their  imaginations."  They  were  "given  over  to  a  re- 
probate mind,"  not  because  they  did  not  do  what  they 
could  not  do,  but  because  "  they-  did  not  like  to  retain  God 
in  their  knowledge."  Neither  does  the  apostle  say  that 
the  gentiles  were  under  a  system  which  was  competent  to 
condemn  them  for  their  sins,  but  incompetent  to  afford  them 
that  which  was  "  necessary  to  salvation."  On  the  contra- 
ry, he  represents  them  as  "  doing  by  nature  the  things  con- 
tained in  the  law,"  and  showing  "the  work  of  the  law  writ- 
ten on  their  hearts."  And  finally,  he  declares  that  every 
gentile  who  worketh  good,  should  obtain  glory,  honor,  and 
peace. 

The  apostle  does  not  oppose  nature  to  revelation. 
For  he  asserts,  that  "  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from 
heaven  against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of  men, 
who  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness ;  because  that  which 
may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest  among  them ;  for  God  hath 
showed  it  unto  them."  He  opposes  nature  to  the  elec- 
tion. The  jews,  he  declares,  are  under  the  law ;  the  gen- 
tiles "are  a  law  unto  themselves" — not  that  they  are  des- 
titute of,  or  have  no  means  granted  to  them  by  Jehovah,  of 
judging  what  is  right ;  for  they  show  the  work  of  the  law 
written  on  their  hearts. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  phrase,  "light  of  nature,"  used 
in  reference  to  the  gentiles,  and  as  opposed  to  revelation,  is 
applied  very  incorrectly.  For  they  were  under  mediato- 
rial law,  by  virtue  of  their  ancestral  inheritance  ;  and  me- 


Moral  government,  66 

diat'orial  law  is  revelation — God  was  manifest  among  them. 
It  is  evident  that  they  were  so  completely  under  the  media- 
torial administration,  that  in  doing  evil  they  were  inexcus- 
ble  ;  and  by  working  good  they  might  have  inherited  eter- 
nal life.  Yet  they  did  not  belong  to  the  election  ;  i.  e. 
viewed  in  reference  to  the  Jewish  law.  Of  course,  the  ex- 
tent of  the  atonement,  which  belongs  to  "mediatorial  law," 
is  not  limited  by  the  extent  of  the  election ;  because  me- 
diatorial law  goes  beyond  the  election. 

My  own  impressions  in  reference  to  the  subject  of  reve- 
lation are,  I  imagine,  very  different  from  those  which  are 
generally  entertained.  If  I  mistake  not,  it  is  for  the  most 
part  supposed,  that  revelation  has  been  intended  to  supply 
a  deficiency  in  the  exhibition  made  of  God  by  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  considering  man  as  a  fallen  creature.  I  do 
not  question  the  fall  of  man,  nor  }^et  the  insufficiency  of 
the  exhibition  referred  to.  Certainly  a  farther  manifesta- 
tion of  God  is  needed — man  in  his  fallen  state  does  require 
more,  and  that  in  the  form  called  revelation.  But  a  like 
necessity  existed  before  the  fall ;  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
afforded  as  insufficient  an  exhibition  then,  as  they  afford 
now;  and  the  ordinances  given  at  that  time  were  as  much 
matters  of  revelation,  as  any  ordinances  are  which  have 
been  given  since.  The  process,  by  which  this  conclusion 
can  be  reached,  would  be  as  follows : — God  had  exhibited 
himself  by  his  works,  to  be  a  great,  wise,  powerful,  and 
good  being.  Man,  as  an  intellectual  creature,  capable  of 
perceiving,  reflecting,  judging,  willing,  and  acting,  would 
readily  make  deductions  of  this  kind,  both  numerous  and 
impressive ;  and  would  naturally  desire  a  personal  acquain- 
tance and  intercourse  with  that  Being.  If  you  would  ask 
for  a  stronger  reason,  then  let  it  be  observed,  that  the  exhi- 
bition afforded  by  this  lower  system  could  not  go  beyond 
itself;  but  man,  according  to  our  present  phraseology,  was 
made  for  immortality ;  or,  according  to  the  terms  used  by 

Paul,  was  intended  to  change  his  original  mode  of  subsis- 
6* 


66  LECTURES  ON 

tencc,  and,  by  pas3ing  from  "a  natural"  into  "a  spiritual 
body,"  to  enter  upon  another  state  of  being.  Thus  it  be- 
came necessary  that  God  should  personally  manifest 
himself,  in  order  that  hi i  creature  might  have  intercourse* 
with  him;  and  that  he  might  communicate  to  that  creature 
the  character  and  extent  of  those  responsibiliticj  under 
which  he  was  placed  in  view  of  another  and  future  world* 
Here  then  revelation  comes  in — not  a  casual  expedient 
resulting  from  the  fall ;  but  a  providential  measure  growing 
out  of  the  nature  and  condition,  and  prospects  of  man.  It 
was  a  characteristic  of  "  the  ministration  of  law,"  a^  it  has 
been  of  the  ministration  of  the  gospel ;  and  the  exhibition 
made  by  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  was  as  insufficient  for 
the  human  mind  under  the  original,  as  it  is  under  the  reme- 
dial, system, — If  this  view  be  correct,  what  will  the  advo- 
cate of  infidel  philosophy  do  with  it?  Displeased  with  "the 
doctrines  of  grace,"  he  is  ever  eulogizing  the  rich  and  mag- 
nificent, the  simple  and  rational,  provisions  of  nature.  But 
lo !  while  he  inveighs  so  positively,  and  oftentimes  so  sar- 
castically, against  revelation  as  belonging  to  the  remedial 
scheme,  here  he  has  revelation  a  component  part  of  the 
system  of  nature  itself.  What  will  he  do?  He  can  no 
longer  object  to  the  principle;  his  quarrel  must  therefore 
be  with  the  specific  facts,  as  these  are  advanced  by  men 
professedly  inspired. 

Perhaps  in  so  promptly  stating  the  conclusion  drawn  in 
the  preceding  paragraph,  I  have  dropped  a  link  in  the  chain 
of  argument.  For  Adam,  after  having  surveyed  the  work* 
of  creation  by  which  he  was  surrounded,  might  next  have 
turned  his  eye  in  upon  himsklf  ;  and  inquired  whether  he 
should  not  have  a  companion  like  himself — one  of  equal 
powers,  and  of  common  sympathies?  •  Certainly  itt  this 
point  of  thought  even  the  Creator  paused  ;  and,  remarking 
— "It  is  not  good  that  the  man  should  be  alone,"  he  creat- 
ed Eve.  Two  intellectual  beings,  of  like  character  and 
common  interests,  having  thus  been  formed,  they,  contem- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  G7 

plating  together  the  works  of  God,  might  together  deduce 
the  inference  in  question.  If  so,  or  if  to  meet  a  difficulty 
occurring  in  social  life,  God  manifests  himself  pkrsonal- 
ly,  and  communicates  his  will,  then  revelation  becomes 
apolitical  matter,  or  is  afforded  to  human  beings  as  in  "  the 
social  state" — to  organized  society.  All  the  oracles  which 
Jehovah,  in  this  view,  would  give,  would  have  a  public 
character  or  reference;  as  Peter  remarked  was  the  fact  in 
relation  to  prophecy,  when  he  said,  "no  prophecy  of  the 
scripture  is  of  any  private  interpretation."  This  idea  is 
most  abundantly  sustained  by  the  consequences  that  have 
so  uniformly  followed  the  abuse  of  tho--e  oracles. — Adam, 
by  sinning,  brought  death  upon  all  the  world. — Cain  by  his 
official  misdemeanor,  involved  all  his  descendants  in  rebel- 
lion and  infidelity. — Lamech  by  his  official  dereliction 
introduced  polygamy,  and  so  prepared  the  way  for  that  uni- 
versal degeneracy,  to  punish  which  the  desolating  flood  was 
brought  upon  the  earth. — Abraham  wras  "the  Heir  of  the 
world." — The  Sinaie  covenant  was  made  wiLh  the  descen- 
dants of  Jacob  as  a  nation. — The  new  covenant  has  been 
made,  as  the  prophets  foretold  and  as  history  records,  with 
the  "many  nations"  who  constitute  the  church. — The 
breach  of  the  legal  economy  entailed  the  most  disastrous 
consequences  upon  the  Jewish  nation,  as  such  ;  and  the  pa- 
pal and  protestant  corruptions  have  despoiled  the  "  many 
nations,"  of  those  general  influences  which  the  evangelic 
institute^wras  intended  to  exert ;  and,  at  this  hour,  are  dread- 
fully felt  through  the  whole  of  these  communities.  So 
then  revelation  is  a  term,  by  which  we  properly  desig- 
nate those  communications  which  God  has  made  to  socie- 
ties in  their  organized  form?,  and  by  official  agents  whom  he 
has  consecrated  for  that  purpose,  and  who  for  that  reason 
are  officially  styled  Elohim.  These  communications  are 
therefore  of  high  public  interest,  and  are  to  be  sustained 
by  public  considerations.  And  while  individuals  are  call- 
ed upon  to  secure  their  own  salvation,  and  to  derive  un- 


08  LECTURES  ON 

der  the  political  administration  whatever  personal  benefits 
they  may  enjoy,  yet  they  are  most  solemnly  forbidden  ever 
to  grow  selfish  in  their  views,  their  feelings,  or  their  habits. 
They  are  to  follow  their  great  Captain,  while  he,  as  Lord 
of  the  whole  earth,  is  sustaining  his  providential  govern- 
ment over  the  whole.  Hence  he  has  said  to  us  all — "  If 
any  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself \  and  take 
up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow  me:" — let  him  merge  per- 
sonal considerations  in  the  general  cause. 

If,  instead  of  endeavoring  to  illustrate  the  divine  govern- 
ment, I  should  change  the  terms,  and  apply  the  principle 
of  the  preceding  argument  to  political  affairs  among  men, 
every  one  would  readily  understand  it,  and  would  duly  ap- 
preciate its  force.  No  one  would  be  at  any  loss  to  locate 
his  personal  duties,  to  ascertain  his  personal  interests,  or  to 
conceive  of  that  class  of  political  virtues  in  which  selfish- 
ness is  merged  in  a  high-sou]ed  patriotism.  And  now,  if 
these  general  views  be  accurate,  or  if  revelation  has  been 
exhibited  as  based  on  its  own  substantial  principles,  elec- 
tion cannot  be  a  private,  but  must  be  a  public,  matter ; 
cannot  be  opposed  to  revelation  of  which  it  forms  a  part, 
but  must  be  a  political  operation,  over  and  above  that  which 
has  been  denominated  nature;  or  something  more  than  the 
action  of  evangelical  principle  according  to  the  laws  of  na- 
ture. 

I  said  that  the  advocate  of  infidel  philosophy  could  not 
fairly  object  to  the  principle  advanced  ;  but  that  perhaps  he 
might  arraign  the  specific  facts  which  the  scriptures  detail. 
And  what  could  he  say  against  these ?  Would  he  say,  "the 
whole  scheme  has  failed. — The  jews,  as  their  own  prophets 
admit,  were  a  stiff-necked  and  rebellious  race. — Christians 
have  not  behaved  much  better  either  as  papists  or  protestants. 
And,  therefore,  the  whole  pretension  to  divine  revelations 
is  a  wretched  subterfuge  of  interested  and  ambitious  priests." 
Ah !  it  is  a  melancholy  tale,  degrading  to  humanity,  and 
most  repulsive  to  the  intelligent  and  the  good !     But  what 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT-  GO 

is  the  force  of  the  objection  ?  It  is  this — is  it  not  ?  Whatever 
man  resists,  is  not  divine. — Then  surely  there  is  nothing 
divine ;  for  what  is  it  that  man  has  not  resisted  ?  From 
north  to  south,  from  east  to  west,  what  law  of  nature  has 
not  been  trampled  under  unhallowed  feet?  And  does  the 
objector  mean  to  tell  us  that  there  is  no  God  ?  If  the  priests 
made  Judaism  and  Christianity,  who  made  nature? 

But  why  should  not  divine  law  be  resisted  by  man  ? 
Mark  it,  I  do  not  say,  why  ought  not  man  to  resist  God  ? 
That  would  be  moral  treason.  But  why  may  he  not?  Is 
that  alone  divine,  which  men  cannot  resist  ? — I  thought  that 
infidel  philosophers  were  advocates  of  "free  agency" — 
that  they  abhorred  (he  idea  of /ate,  or  of  sovereignty  which 
would  be  found  to  be  synonymous  with  mechanical  force — 
and  that  they  were  great  admirers  of  reason  !  And  have 
they  come  to  this  ?  The  rational,  the  literary,  the  philoso- 
phic, the  playful,  the  ironic,  the  sarcastic,  opponents  of 
calvinists,  have  dipped  down  deeper  into  fate,  than  calvin- 
ists  themselves.  In  resisting  the  bible,  they  would  give  us 
the  koran,  perhaps  even  degraded  by  their  own  philosophic 
edition  of  its  abandoned  principles! — But  enough. 

It  has  often  been  remarked,  that  the  deistical  argument 
has  improved  with  the  progress  of  revelation  ;  and  that 
deists  themselves  repose  much  confidence  in  the  mercy  of 
God,  and  in  the  value  of  repentance.  They  tell  us  that 
these  ideas  are  derived  from  the  light  of  nature ;  and  talk 
with  a  great  deal  of  complacency  of  such  men  as  Socrates 
and  Seneca,  Plato  and  Cicero,  as  well  as  of  their  fine  mo- 
ral sentiments.  Christian  moralists,  on  the  other  hand,  ever 
endeavor  to  throw  these  philosophers  into  the  shade,  and 
deny  that  the  light  of  nature  proclaims  the  way  of  salva- 
tion. But  how  could  the  world  be  destitute  of  evangelical 
ideas  and  terms  ?  The  whole  world  has  been  under  media- 
torial law,  and  has  lived  by  the  forbearance  of  God.  And 
if  God  had  manifested  unto  them  what  may  be  known  of 
him,  or  if  his  witness  was  ever  proclaiming  his  goodness 


70  LECTURES  ON 

unto  them,  why  should  not  such  men  as  Socrates  and  Se- 
neca, Plato  and  Cicero,  reason  rationally  and  philosophical- 
ly ?  Does  not  Paul  ascribe  just  views  to  the  heathen  poets, 
when  they  said,  that  men  were  "the  offspring  of  God?" 
Does  he  not  tell  us  that  the  gentiles  did  by  nature  the  things 
contained  in  the  law,  and  that  they  were  ever  debating 
moral  subjects  among  themselves  ?  Does  he  not  declare 
that,  in  so  far  as  they  did  not  reason  right,  they  were  inex- 
cusable ?  And  why  should  not  the  deistical  argument  im- 
prove with  the  progress  revelation  ;  when,  by  that  progress 
of  revelation,  the  very  ideas  which  belong  to  the  light  of 
nature  are  made  more  plain  and  distinct?  And  why 
should  not  the  christian  philosopher  resolve  into  the 
righteousness  of  faith,  the  morality  displayed  in  the  hea- 
then world,  as  promptly  as  he  does  so  respite  Jewish  mo- 
rality ?  Was  not  the  righteousness  of  faith  handed  down 
from  Adam  to  Noah,  and  from  Noah  to  Abraham  ?  Did  not 
the  Abraham ic  covenant  bring;  out  the  same  doctrine  be- 
fore  the  world?  and  the  Jewish  law,  as  a  severe  school- 
master, teach  its  necessity  ?  As  to  a  light  of  nature  which 
is  independent  of  mediatorial  law,  neither  christian  nor 
deist  knows  any  thing  about  it ;  and  when  they  undertake 
to  argue  in  relation  to  such  a  hypothetical  matter,  they 
speak  ivithout  book,  and  draw  conclusions  without  premises. 
Mature  is  opposed  to  election.  It  is  as  much  nature  that 
the  world  should  be  under  the  government  of  the  Media- 
tor and  his  evangelical  institute,  as  it  would  have  been  na- 
ture for  the  world  to  have  been  governed  by  the  Creator 
and  his  institute  of  law,  if  Adam  had  not  fallen.  The  state 
of  society  or  of  government  among  the  jews,  was  unnatu- 
ral— or  was  supernatural — something  more  than,  and  above 
nature. 

In  view  of  the  Jewish  polity,  and  while  comparing  "  the 
atonement"  with  the  election,  the  scriptures  have  furnish- 
ed us  with  another  official  exhibition,  whose  principle  is  the 
same  with  that  on  which  our  argument  is  based.     That  ex- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  71 

hibition  is  seldom  considered  in  connexion  with  this  sub- 
ject ;  because,  though  mentioned  three  times  in  the  scrip- 
tures, it  is  supposed  to  belong  to  those  things,  "  hard  to  be 
understood,"  which  Paul  has  written.  I  allude  to  the 
priesthood  of  Melchizedec.  It  is  true,  that  we  know  very 
little  concerning  this  man,  and  his  official  relations  ;  but  it 
is  presumed,  that  we  know  enough  to  establish  the  point 
before  us.  Melchizedec  was  a  priest-  of  the  Most  High 
God.  He  was  not  a  priest  under  the  Levitical  law,  as  he 
had  no  Levitical  register,  or  was  "  without  father,  without 
mother,  without  beginning  of  days  or  end  of  life" — all  of 
which  matters  must  be  stated  concerning  a  Levitical  priest.* 
And  Christ  was  a  priest,  after  the  order  of  Melchizedec, 
and  not  after  the  order  of  Aaron ;  seeing  that  neither  had 
he  any  Levitical  register,  as  he  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Ju- 
dah.  The  priesthood  of  Melchizedec  was  then  in  the  gen- 
tile world,  and  was  outside  of  the  circumference  of  "  the 
election"  altogether.  Now,  the  apostle  argues  that  differ- 
ent priesthoods  have  different  laws ; — his  declaration  is 
that  "  the  priesthood  being  changed,  there  is  made  of  ne- 
cessity a  change  also  of  the  law."  Of  course,  the  priest- 
hood of  Melchizedec  was  not  affected  by  any  of  the  re- 
strictions of  the  Jewish  ritual.  Consequently  the  priest- 
hood of  Christ,  "  though  it  might  bring  about  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  transgressions  that  were  under  the  first  testa- 
ment," yet  went  far  beyond  them — and  was  co-extensive 
with  the  priesthood  of  Melchizedec. 

The  question  which  now  arises  is,  what  was  the  law  of 
the  priesthood  of  Melchizedec  ?  In  answer  to  which,  it  is 
to  be  remarked — 1.  That  this  singular  personage  is  intro- 
duced to  our  notice  in  the  most  formal  manner.  He  was 
priest  of  the  most  high  God  ;  i.  e.  he  held  a  special  and  im- 
mediate commission  from  God  himself:  for  as  every  head 
of  a  family  was  a  priest  in  his  own  family,  Abraham  too 
was  a  priest ;  yet  he  paid  tithes  to  Melchizedec.  2.  Paul 
*  See  Gray's  Priesthoods. 


7-2  LECTURES  .ON 

argues,  that  as  Abraham  paid  tithes  to  Melchizedec,  his 
priesthood  was  not  only  outside  of  "  the  election."  but  far 
superior  to  the  priesthood  of  Aaron.  3.  If  "  even  Abra- 
ham" paid  tithes,  any  one  else  might  have  done  the  same, 
on  the  principle  of  reasoning  from  the  greater  to  the  less. 
The  priesthood  of  Melchizedec  was  therefore  characterized 
by  universality.  Hence  the  apostle's  peculiar  language — 
that  Christ  being  a.  priest  after  the  similitude  of  Melchize- 
dec, was  made  so,  "not  after  a  carnal  commandment,  but 
after  the  power-  of  an  endless  life."  And  as  he  continueth 
ever,  he  '"  hath  an  unchangeable  priesthood,"  and  is  also 
able  to  save  unto  the  uttermost,  them  that  come  unto  God 
by  him."  So  that  the  priesthood  of  Christ  goes  backward 
and  forward,  with  the  whole  history  of  the  human  race ; 
within  that  range  no  "  beginning  of  days"  nor  "  end  of 
life"  can  be  specified;  and  it  includes  the  whole  human 
family,  as  no  particular  class  of  mankind  can  be  genealo- 
gically traced,  to  whom  it  properly  belongs.  There  is  no 
other  priest  for  either  jew  or  gentile.  All  have  a  like  in- 
terest in  him  and  his  official  transactions.  And  the  argu- 
ment that  represents  him  as  making  reconciliation  for  one, 
necessarily  represents  him  as  making  reconciliation  for 

ALL. 

The  priesthood  of  Melchizedec  seems  then,  like  the  of- 
ficial character  of  Abraham,  to  have  been  intended  to  pre- 
vent all  those  narrow  reasonings,  to  which  the  doctrine  of 
election  has  given  rise.  The  apostle  Paul  certainly  makes 
no  other  use  of  it,  than  to  correct  such  impressions  among 
the  jews  :  for  his  evident  design  in  his  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, is  to  put  the  whole  Mosaic  constitution  into  a  se- 
condary place  ;  and  to  lower  it  in  the  estimation  of  his 
countrymen,  who  considered  it  primary  and  indispensable. 
And  as  all  their  exclusive  ideas  arose  from  the  fact,  that 
they  were  the  chosen  or  elected  people  of  God,  he,  in 
tracing  the  limited  operation  of  the  law,  in  view  of  which 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  73 

they  had  been   elected,   refuted   their   views  of  election 
itself. 

Nay  the  priesthood  itself  was  originally  identified  with 
civil  government ;  for  the  prince  was  the  priest,  and  the 
priest  was  the  prince.     All  these  official  honors  were  be- 
stowed on  Adam,  and  descended  to  his  first  born ;  from 
which  fact  Christ  himself  wears  the  official  title  of  First- 
born or  First- begotten ;  and,  in  correspondence  with  its 
import,  is  a  priest  upon  his  throne.     If  then  all  men 
have  a  common  interest  in  civil  government,  and  if  there 
be  no  election  to  curtail  their  political  privileges,  they  must 
have  a  common  interest  in  the  priesthood ;  and  no  election 
can  deprive  them  of  their  common  lot  in  its  official  opera- 
tions.    If  all  men  are  under  the  government  of  the  Son 
of  God  as  the  Heir  of  all  things,  they  are  governed  by  him 
as  a  priest  upon  his  throne.     They  must  all  have,  by  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  a  common  inheritance  in  his  sa- 
crifice, or  death,  or  justifying  righteousness  ;  for  it  is  here 
where  we  look  for  his  official  action  as  a  priest.  The  First- 
born of  every    creature  must   officiate   for  all,  because 
he  is  officially  related  to  all.     The  argument  that  cuts  off 
any  from  the  benefits  of  his  sacrifice,  cuts  them  off  from 
his  dominion ;  and  constitutes  him  only  the  Heir  of  those 
who  remain.     But  they  who  perish,  perish  according  to  the 
scriptures,  as  rebels  against  the  Son  of  God  as  a  priest  on 
his  throne  ;  or,  as  the  Spirit  has  gone  forth  to  convince  the 
world,  because  they  believe  not  in  Jesus.     The  theolo- 
gical argument  in  elucidation  or  proof  of  a"  particular  re- 
demption,"  or  a    "personal  election  unto    eternal  life," 
throws  every  thing  into  utter  confusion  that  belongs  either 
to  nature  or  the  election. 

Under  the  christian  economy,  when  a  second  election 
occurs,  the  argument  in  favor  of  the  universality  of  the  me- 
diatorial institute  is  comparatively  simple.  Two  particu- 
lars alone  need  to  be  mentioned. 

1.  The  terms  which  are  used  are  universal — "  Go  ye 
Vol.  II.— 7 


^ 


74  LECTURES  ON 

into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.'' 
"  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven,  and  in  earth.  Go 
ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations." — "The  times  of  this 
ignorance  God  winked  at;  but  now  commandeth  all  men, 
every  where  to  repent." 

•2.  The  peculiar  designation  of  the  new  economy  is  gos- 
pel. And  gospel  is  glad-tidings — glory  to  God,  and  good 
will  to  men.  It  is  "that  which  was  from  the  beginning" 
Its  subject  is  the  righteousness  of  faith,  which  was  pro- 
claimed to  Adam,  the  head  of  our  race,  after,  the  fall ;  to 
Noah,  constituted  the  head  of  the  human  family,  after  the 
flood ,  and  to  Abraham,  made  "the  heir  of  the  world."  The 
gospel  is  then  concerned  about  that  which  is  the  inheritance 
of  man,  by  virtue  of  the  first  promise,  of  the  covenant  of 
life  made  with  Noah,  and  of  the  evangelical  covenant  made 
with  Abraham.  Such  is  its  general  subject;  while  the  par- 
ticular dispensation,  under  which  its  full  disclosures  are 
made,  will  serve  its  temporary  purpose  "  until  the  fulness 
of  the  gentiles  be  come  in,"  when  all  the  ends  of  the  earth 
shall  see  the  salvation  of  God. 

In  thus  endeavoring  to  ascertain  the  position  of  the  gen- 
tiles under  the  mediatorial  administration  of  the  Son  of 
God,  I  believe  that  nothing  has  been  left  unconsidered 
which  was  worthy  of  any  particular  notice ;  unless  it  may 
be,  that  some  one  might  reproachfully  ask — is  it  not  strange 
that,  under  such  circumstances,  we  should  have  no  better 
account  of  the  gentiles  than  that  which  history  has  record- 
ed ?  Certainly  we  have  abundant  reason  for  sad  and  mourn- 
ful reflections,  when  we  turn  to  the  annals  of  so  large  a 
portion  of  our  race.  And  we  wish  we  had  no  farther  cause 
of  grief.  But  one  portion  of  the  history  of  man  was  wound 
up  in  the  deluge.  Was  not  that  equally  strange  ?  Ano- 
ther portion  was  wound  up  in  the  necessity  for  the  call  of 
Abraham.  Was  not  that  equally  strange  ?  Neither  have 
the  gentile  nations  ever  been  viewed  with  a  kindly  eye, 
either  by  jews  or  christians.  For  they  both  have  uniformly 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  ?o 

reasoned  as  though  the  world  had  nothing  but  evil  in  it; 
and  as  though  the  consequence  of  Adam's  sin  had  been 
pure,  unmingled  evil  ;  when  Jehovah's  own  comment  is — 
"  Behold,  the  man  is  become  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good 
and  evil.'5  And  yet  Abraham  met  with  Melchizedec  ; 
Isaac  with  Abimelech;  Joseph  with  Potipherah;  Moses 
with  Jethro,  and  Job,  and  Balaam.  Literary  men  of  en- 
lightened and  liberal  views  have  spoken  much  of  the  phi- 
losophers; and  the  sybilline  oracles  seem  to  have  been  but 
a  collection  of  fragments  of  patriarchal  traditions,  long  pre- 
served, and  scattered  every  where.  Then  again,  what  shall 
be  said  for  the  elect  themselves  ?  Moses  found  them  a  stiff- 
necked  and  rebellious  people  ;  often  did  they  relapse  into 
idolatry;  Samuel  had  much  trouble  with  them;  Elijah 
sought  their  reformation  with  many  tears ;  the  Babylonish 
captivity  was  a  long  and  sore  punishment  of  their  crimes  ; 
ten  of  the  tribes  have  no  habitation  which  any  anxious 
moralist  can  discover;  in  the  Redeemer's  day,  the  remain- 
der were  guilty  of  the  very  immoralities  for  which  they  con- 
demned the  gentiles,  and  finally  filled  up  the  cup  of  their 
iniquity  in  acting  the  tragedy  of  the  crucifixion. 

And  besides,  what  shall  we  say  for  ourselves?  What  is 
our  own  history  from  the  day  that  ecclesiastical  councils 
were  formed,  down  through  the  long  reign  of  their  perni- 
cious decrees,  even  to  our  own  times,  when  the  sectarian 
is  trampling  on  his  fellow,  and  every  denomination  is  writh- 
ing under  its  own  legislative  mistakes  ?  Or  what  account 
shall  we  give  of  our  own  contentions,  down  from  the  loftv 
pretensions  of  papal  misrule,  to  the  lowest  socinianism  it- 
self? Or  how  do  we  appear  when,  to  stimulate  ourselves 
to  deeds  of  discipline,  we  are  ever  talking  in  sectarian  jar- 
gon about  the  purity  of  the  church,  and  purchasing  peace 
on  our  dying  pillow  by  casting  each  other  out  of  the  church  ? 
And  do  we  wonder  at  the  history  of  the  heathen  ? — Such 
is  human  depravity.  We  fear  a  new  tragedy  is  in  prepara* 
lion,  and  will  soon  lay  waste  the  fairest  parts  of  our  once 


76  LECTURES  ON 

goodly  heritage.  For  it  is  impossible  that  such  sectarian 
feats,  so  fearfully  immoral,  and  so  contrary  to  every  emotion 
with  which  christian  love  might  inspire  the  human  bosom, 
should  not  have  a  disastrous  termination.  Never  did  society 
more  need  reorganization.  That  reorganization  will  take 
place  :  and  the  prelude  we  dread. 

We  have  yet  to  consider  the  design  and  reason  of  the 
election.  It  is  a  sovereign  act  I  admit.  But  Jehovah 
never  proceeds  to  such  sovereign  acts  without  a  reason  ;  and 
a  reason  involving  the  good  of  his  creatures  as  its  object. 
Nor  only  so  ;  but  that  reason  is  always  assigned,  or  is  with- 
in the  reach  of  our  apprehension,  and  will  be  seen,  sooner 
or  later,  according  as  the  human  mind  shall  acquire  moral 
vigor,  or  as  succeeding  generations  shall  improve  upon  the 
discoveries  of  those  which  preceded.  Nor  has  the  reason, 
in  the  present  case,  been  ever  concealed.  The  history  of 
the  rectoral  transaction  itself  states  its  necessity,  and  evinces 
it  to  be  a  dispensation  of  relief;  a  dispensation,  intended 
to  be  "a  schoolmaster"  for  the  time  being,  whose  services 
were  necessary  to  expose  the  errors  of  idolatry,  and  lead  a 
mistaken  and  distracted  world  to  the  Son  of  God,  as  the 
only  Saviour. 

To  be  more  explicit.  We  must  return  again  to  the  apos- 
tle Paul,  who  is  the  great  commentator  on  the  mediatorial 
institute  ;  and  who  has,  under  the  direction  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  traced  out  all  its  relations.  In  his  epistle  to  the  Ga- 
latians,  and  in  an  attempt  to  explain  the  extended  charac- 
ter of  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  he  supposes  himself  to  be 
asked  this  question — "  Wherefore  then  serveth  the  law  ?" 
This  is  the  very  question  which  we  are  now  to  consider. 
He  replies — "  The  law  was  added  because  of  transgres- 
sions, till  the  Seed  should  come  to  whom  the  promise  was 
made."  And  what  were  these  transgressions?  The  de- 
scendants of  Cain,  drawing  the  posterity  of  Seth  into  their 
vortex  of  corruptions,  had  inculcated  and  established  that 
fearful  infidelity,  which  rejected  the  whole  mediatorial  in- 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  77 

stitute.  The  postdiluvians,  effectually  warned  by  the  deluge 
against  such  unbridled  licentiousness,  as  the  Jews  were  af- 
terwards warned  by  the  Babylonish  captivity  against  idola- 
try, supposed  a  multitude  of  "  incarnations"  to  have  occur- 
red, and  so  degenerated  into  polytheism.  What  may  be 
the  different  amounts  of  turpitude  between  infidelity  and 
polytheism,  I  shall  not  undertake  to  decide.  But  in  all  the 
guilt  of  the  latter  the  world  was  involved,  when  God  di- 
vided mankind  into  nations,  and  proclaimed  the  purpose 
of  election  in  the  call  of  Abraham.  This  great  patriarch 
himself  was  taken  from  an  idolatrous  family  :  so  that  the 
evil  must  have  spread  far  and  wide,  and  the  whole  science 
of  morals  have  become  most  egregiously  corrupted.  Let 
us  then  inquire  into  the  character  and  extent  of  this  cor- 
ruption. 

The  two  great  correlate  facts  in  the  history  of  man,  to 
which  our  attention  should  be  directed  in  the  moral  disqui- 
sition we  have  undertaken,  are,  that — In  Adam  all  men  die, 
and  in  Christ  all  men  shall  be  made  alive.  Or,  to  vary  the 
mode  of  expression,  the  two  great  institutes,  under  which 
mankind  have  been  placed,  are  law  and  gospel.  Or,  to 
vary  terms  a  little  farther,  the  two  great  views  of  moral  ob- 
ligation, which  the  scriptures  have  employed  their  writers 
to  discuss,  are  designated  by  the  phrases — the  righteous- 
ness of  the  law,  and  the  righteousness  of  faith.  Now,  in 
the  general  corruption  which  prevailed  at  the  time  of  Abra- 
ham's call,  these  elemental  matters  were  misunderstood: 
or  the  two  institutes  were  mingled  together  in  sad  and 
wretched  confusion.  Any  plan,  therefore,  which  Jehovah 
would  devise,  and  which  should  at  the  same  time  be  suit- 
able to  the  unhappy  condition  of  mankind,  or  calculated  to 
redeem  them  from  their  idolatrous  depravity,  must  bring 
out  these  two  great  facts — these  two  great  institutes — these 
two  paramount  views  of  moral  obligation,  in  distinct  and 
vivid  display.  To  accomplish  this  desirable  object,  was, 
as  I  understand  the  transaction,  the  design  of  Jehovah-  in 
7* 


78  LECTURES  ON" 

erecting  the  two  dispensations.  The  Mosaic  ritual  was  a 
symbol  or  "  figure"  of  the  first  institute,  or  law  ;  and  was 
intended  to  demonstrate,  that  "  by  deeds  of  law  no  flesh 
can  be  justified  in  the  sight  of  God."  The  christian  dis- 
pensation was  a  symbol  or  "  figure"  of  the  second  institute, 
or  gospel,  and  was  intended  to  exhibit  "  the  righteousness 
of  faith,  just  as  Abraham's  circumcision  was  a  "sign" 
or  "  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  faith  which  he  had,  yet  be- 
ing uncircumcised."  Accordingly  the  two  dispensations 
are  respectively  denominated  law  and  gospel  ;  and  are  con- 
tinually represented  as  having  those  distinctive  references. 

That  such  was  the  actual  condition  of  mankind  when 
Abraham  was  called,  I  infer — 1.  Because,  as  there  are  but 
two  institutes,  or  the  twro  modes  of  justification,  the  human 
mind,  in  flying  from  the  one,  must,  of  necessity,  retreat  into 
the  other.  If  the  descendants  of  the  patriarchs  had  mis- 
understood the  doctrine  of  the  righteousness  of  faith  wThich 
had  been  revealed  to  them,  they  necessarily  run  into  that  of 
the  righteousness  of  the  law :  and  thus  the  latter  became 
the  basis  of  whatever  hopes  they  had.  If,  in  the  mean 
time,  they  still  held  fast  to  the  positive  institutions  which 
they  had  received,  and  whose  whole  reference  was  to  the 
righteousness  of  faith — which  they  might  easily  do,  for  a 
community  will  change  its  doctrines  much  sooner  than  it 
will  change  its  forms,  and  will  in  fact  preserve  an  outward 
ceremony  long  after  its  reason  has  been  forgotten? — their 
theories  and  ordinances  would  then  be  in  direct  collision  ; 
and  their  theology  would  become  a  mass  of  confusion. 

%  That  such  was  their  condition,  I  infer,  because,  that 
the  official  attribute  which  distinguished  Abraham,  as  the 
friend  of  God,  was  the  righteousness  of  faith.  This  was 
the  great  matter  which  the  covenant  made  with  him  was 
designed  to  secure ;  and  which  his  character  and  history 
so  beautifully  illustrate.  This  spread  its  glory  over  mount 
Moriah,  when  the  father  of  the  faithful  ascended  to  com- 
mune with  God  over  the  Sacrificial  pile  of  his  bleeding 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  79 

child;  and  where  he  received  him  "in  a  figure,"  or  as  a 
symbol  of  the  resurrection  from  the  dead.  But  this  righteous- 
ness of  faith  could  not  have  so  pre-eminently  distinguished 
Abraham,  if  all  around  him  had  not  "  fallen  from  grace," 
and  sought  justification  by  the  righteousness  of  the  law. 

3.  That  such  was  the  condition  of  men,  I  infer,  because 
Job — who  was  cotemporary  with  Moses,  and  whose  history 
appears  to  have  been  written  by  that  legislator  with  a  view 
to  show  the  insufficiency  of  deeds  of  law — because  Job, 
though  he  anticipated  the  coming  of  his  Redeemer,  yet 
sought  to  be  justified  by  his  own  obedience  to  lenv.  That 
Job  had  formed  such  calculations,  is  evident  from  his  high 
pretensions,  and  from  the  whole  train  of  his  reasoning ;  but 
particularly  from  the  manner  of  the  divine  appearance  to 
him,  in  the  winding  up  of  the  protracted  controversy.  God 
did  not  appear  to  him  as  he  did  to  Abraham  or  Jacob  in 
a  human  form,  condescending  to  plain  and  familiar  con- 
verse; for  that  would  have  been  a  manifestation  of  his  me- 
diatorial character.  But  he  came  to  him  as  he  did  to  Moses 
on  the  burning  mountain.  He  came  in  a  whirlwind  or  in 
terrible  majesty,  and  as  the  great  lawgiver;  before  whom, 
thus  revealed,  every  human  being  must  bow  in  self-abhor- 
rence. Moses  did  exceedingly  fear  and  quake.  Ah  !  no 
human  being  can  be  justified  b}^  deeds  of  law.  Without 
the  Mediator  we  are  all  undone  ;  and  of  this  important  fact 
the  old  testament  apostle  wished  to_  convince  his  people, 
whom  he  was  conducting  to  the  land  of  promise,  when  he 
penned  this  beautiful  piece  of  scripture  story. 

4.  That  such  was  the  condition  of  mankind,  I  infer,  because 
that,  though  the  jews  had  the  promises  and  the  ordinances, 
yet  their  great  error  was,  that  they  went  about  to  establish 
their  own  righteousness,  being  ignorant  of  the  righteous- 
ness  of  God.  Even  after  they  had  embraced  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth as  the  long  promised  Messiah,  their  ideas  were  ex- 
ceedingly confused  ;  they  held  fast  to  the  law,  and  zealous- 
ly labored  to  proselyte  the  gentiles  to  their  prejudices  and 


80  LECTURES  ON 

mistakes.  Hence  Paul's  long  and  elaborate  epistles  were 
written  ;  and  his  grand  theme  was,  the  righteousness  of  faith, 
as  opposed  to  deeds  of  law. 

I  have  certainly  given  reasons  enough  to  justify  my  in- 
ference ;  and  to  demonstrate  the  proneness  of  men  to  re- 
lapse into  a  legal  condition,  notwithstanding  that  a  Media- 
tor has  been  revealed  to  them.  Or  if  more  were  necessary, 
every  deficiency  would  be  supplied  by  simply  looking  at  the 
pretensions  of  infidelity ;  which  are  nothing  else  than  a 
blinded  attachment  to  the  righteousness  of  law,  that  the 
best  of  men  never  can  render.  But  if  such  be  the  prone- 
ness of  the  human  mind,  and  if  the  condition  of  mankind 
at  the  time  when  Abraham  was  called,  was  such  as  I  have 
described  it  to  have  been,  there  was  a  necessity  that  some- 
thing should  be  done.  The  then  present  age  needed  it. 
Future  generations  would  require  it.  As  the  original 
mode  of  communicating  instruction  to  men  was  by  ex- 
ternal symbol  or  figure,  and  as  the  subjects  to  be  ex- 
plained had  often  been  so  represented  before,  what  bet- 
ter method  could  be  devised,  than  to  reduce  the  dangerous 
pretension  to  actual  experiment  under  a  symbolical  form  r 
Thus,  the  human  mind,  in  all  the  varied  shades  and  sizes 
under  which  society  at  large  presents  it,  and  with  all  the  ad- 
vantages that  the  special  protection  of  the  Almighty  could 
afford,  was  either  left  or  called  to  a  labored  effort  to  show 
what  the  righteousness  of  the  law  was  really  worth.  And 
when  ages  had  elapsed,  and  the  experiment  was  fairly  and 
fully  tried ;  when  national  grandeur,  and  political  distinction, 
and  military  prowess,  and  monarchical  pageantry,  and  the 
wealth  of  a  kingdom,  had  wrought  up  the  period  of  trial 
into  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  man,  never  to  be  forgotten  ; 
and  when  the  demonstration,  that  by  the  deeds  of  law  no 
flesh  could  be  justified  in  the  sight  of  God,  had  thus  be- 
come irrefutable  ;  then  came  the  Redeemer  to  exhibit  the 
righteousness  of  faith,  under  a  parallel  dispensation — a  dis- 
pensation excelling  in  its  glory,  more  extensive  in  its  ope- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  81 

rations,  and  more  simple  in  its  form. — Can  any  one  object 
to  our  principle  of  exposition  ?  Was  not  such  a  proceed- 
ing worthy  of  God,  suitable  to  man,  called  for  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  and  adequate  to  achieve  the  ob- 
ject contemplated  ? 

With  the  foreo-oing-  view,  all  the  common  illustrations 
which  the  scriptures  employ  precisely  correspond.  To 
exemplify. — "  What  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was 
weak  through  the  flesh,  God  sent  his  Son,  in  the  likeness  of 
sinful  flesh,  to  do."  If  the  original  institute  had  become 
thus  inappropriate  to  the  human  condition,  its  "figure'' 
must  be  characterized  by  that  very  same  inefficiency.  And 
no  conceivable  end  can  be  assigned,  why  an  inappropriate 
institute  should  be  revived,  even  under  a  symbolic  form — 
and  particularly  when  mankind  do  not  seem  to  be  con- 
vinced of  its  inappropriateness — but  to  show  them  its  in- 
sufficiency. 

The  law  was  thus  revived  in  a  figure  only  for  a  little  while 
— until  the  Seed  should  come  to  whom  the  promise  was  made. 
But  why  was  it  temporary?  Had  it  been  sufficient,  would  it 
not  have  been  permanent  ?  If  "  there  had  been  a  law  given 
which  could  have  given  life,  verily  righteousness  should 
have  been  by  the  law.  But  the  scripture  hath  concluded 
all  under  sin."  And  especially  the  jew;  for  the  law  hav- 
ing entered,  the  offence  hath  abounded. 

"  The  law  was  our  schoolmaster,  to  bring  us  unto  Christ, 
that  we  might  be  justified  by  faith"  Its  object  was  to  refer 
us  to  Christ,  by  demonstrating  the  insufficiency  of  its  right- 
eousness, and  by  that  means  "  to  shut  up"  the  jews  "  unto 
the  faith  which  should  afterwards  be  revealed."  Nor  could 
any  atonement  which  it  prescribed  interfere  with  this  grand 
design ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  ordinance  of  sacrifice 
itself  formed  a  very  material  part  of  the  proof,  which  the 
dispensation  afforded,  of  the  inefficiency  of  law.  For  had 
those  sacrifices  been  sufficient  to  take  away  sin,   "they 


8-2  LECTURES  ON 

would  have  ceased  to  be  offered ;  because  that  the  worship- 
pers once  purged  should  have  no  more  conscience  of  sins." 
The  repetition  of  these  sacrifices,  therefore,  was  full  evi- 
dence of  their  own  incompetency. 

The  law,  "written  and  engraven  in  stones,"  which  "was 
so  glorious  that  the  children  of  Israel  could  not  steadfastly 
behold  the  face  of  Moses,  for  the  glory  of  his  countenance," 
instead  of  justifying  a  sinner,  was  itself  "the  ministration  of 
death  and  condemnation."  The  children  of  Israel  who 
lived  under  the  law,  instead  of  obtaining  life  thereby,  were 
actually  condemned  to  death,  as  the  prophet  Ezekiel  beau- 
tifully represents  in  his  vision  of  the  valley  of  dead  and  dry 
bones.  Such  was  the  condition  of  "  the  whole  house  of 
Israel;"  and  nothing  saved  them  but  the  fact  that  the  law 
had  been  ordained  in  the  hands  of  a  Mediator.  Such  are 
the  common  illustrations  on  this  subject. 

In  delineating  the  character  of  the  Mosaic  ritual,  the  cir- 
cumstances of  its  introduction,  which  were  so  fearful  and 
oppressive,  and  which  precisely  correspond  with  the  gene- 
ral idea  we  have  set  forth,  ought  not  to  be  forgotten.  We 
shall  detail  them  in  scriptural  language.  "  And  the  Lord 
said  unto  Moses,  Lo,  I  come  unto  thee  in  a  thick  cloud, 
that  the  people  may  hear  when  I  speak  with  thee,  and  be- 
lieve thee  forever.  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  third  day, 
in  the  morning,  that  there  were  thunders  and  lightnings,  and 
a  thick  cloud  upon  the  mount,  and  the  voice  of  the  trumpet 
exceeding  loud,  so  that  all  the  people  that  were  in  the  camp 
trembled.  And  Mount  Sinai  was  altogether  on  a  smoke, 
because  the  Lord  descended  upon  it  in  fire ;  and  the  smoke 
thereof  ascended  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace,  and  the  whole 
mount  quaked  greatly."  "And  all  the  people  saw  the  thun- 
derings,  and  the  lightnings,  and  the  noise  of  the  trumpet, 
and  the  mountain  smoking :  and  when  the  people  saw  it, 
they  removed,  and  stood  afar  off.  And  they  said  unto 
Moses,  Speak  thou  with  us,  and  we  will  hear :  but  let  not 
God  speak  with  us,  lest  we  die."     "And  he  said.  Behold  I 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  83 

make  a  covenant:  before  all  thy  people  I  will  do  marvels, 
such  as  have  not  been  done  in  all  the  earth,  nor  in  any  na- 
tion :  and  all  the  people  among  which  thou  art  shall  see 
the  work  of  the  Lord,  for  it  is  a  terrible  thing  that  I  will 
do  with  thee."  "Forget  not  the  day  that  thou  stoodest  be- 
fore the  Lord  thy  God  in  Horeb.  And  ye  came  near,  and 
stood  under  the  mountain ;  and  the  mountain  burned  with 
fire  unto  the  midst  of  heaven,  with  darkness,  clouds,  and 
thick  darkness.  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  you  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  fire."  "  For  ye  are  not  come  unto  the  mount 
that  might  be  touched,  and  that  burned  with  fire,  nor  unto 
blackness,  and  darkness,  and  tempest,  and  the  sound  of  a 
trumpet,  and  the  voice  of  words :  which  voice  they  that 
heard,  entreated  that  the  word  should  not  be  spoken  to  them 
any  more  :  for  they  could  not  endure  that  which  was  com- 
manded. And  if  so  much  as  a  beast  touch  the  mountain,  it 
shall  be  stoned  or  thrust  through  with  a  dart;  and  so  terri- 
ble was  the  sight,  that  Moses  said,  I  exceedingly  fear  and 
quake."  "Now,  therefore,  why  tempt  ye  God,  to  put  a 
yoke  on  the  neck  of  the  disciples,  which  neither  our  fathers 
nor  we  were  able  to  bear?" 

Such  were  the  circumstances  attendant  on  the  giving  of 
the  Mosaic  institutions.     And  what  could  be  the  nature  of 
an  economy  thus  introduced  ?     What  else  shall  we  make  of 
it,  than  that  it  was  a  law  which  could  not  be  obeyed,  and 
was,  therefore,  a  ministration  of  death  ?     How  painful  and 
distressing  the  feelings  of  the  sinner  must  be  in  such  a  situ- 
ation !     How  bitter  his  wailings !     How   lamentable  his 
cries!     Hear  the  people.     Hear  Moses.     Hear  Job.    What 
was  to  be  done  ?     Who  can  bear  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  living  God  ? — Such  an  exhibition  shut  up  the  whole 
people  of  Israel  to  the  faith  which  should  afterwards  be  re- 
vealed. 

If  there  be  any  flaw  in  the  preceding  arguments,  then, 
unable  to  answer  farther,  I  ask,  what  could  have  been  the 
design  of  such  elective  ordinances  ?     Certainly  they  do  not 


84  LECTURES  ON 

describe  the  actual  condition  of  mankind  ;  for  God  had  given 
the  promise  of  the  "Seed  of  the  woman."  Neither  do  they 
describe  the  actual  condition  of  the  jews;  for  they  were 
the  children  of  Abraham,  to  whom  the  gospel  was  preach- 
ed, and  the  law  itself  was  ordained  under  the  mediatorial 
superintendence.  Nothing  is  left  for  us,  but  to  consider  the 
whole  transaction  as  purely  symbolic — a  figure  shadowing 
forth  the  insufficiency  of  the  righteousness  of  law. 

How  different  is  the  exhibition  under  the  new  dispensa- 
tion !  It  is  not  now  the  burning  mountain,  but  a  crucified 
Christ — not  the  awful  legislator  speaking  from  the  midst  of 
the  fire,  but  the  condescending  Mediator  manifest  in  the 
flesh — not  the  law  working  wrath,  but  the  gospel  proclaim- 
ing mercy — not  the  ministration  of  condemnation  and  death, 
but  the  ministration  of  righteousness  and  life — not  the  in- 
effectual sacrifice,  vainly  repeated,  but  the  one  sacrifice 
that  forever  perfects  them  that  are  sanctified — not  the  spi- 
rit of  bondage,  but  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  of  power,  of  love, 
and  of  a  sound  mind — not  a  condition  of  pupillage  and  ser- 
vitude, but  a  state  of  liberty  and  privilege,  where  the  heir, 
arrived  at  full  age,  has  received  the  inheritance.  "  We  are 
now  come  unto  Mount  Sion,  and  unto  the  city  of  the  living 
God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  to  an  innumerable  com- 
pany of  angels,  to  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the 
First-born,  which  are  written  in  heaven,  and  to  God  the 
Judge  of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
and  to  Jesus,  the  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant,  and  to  the 
blood  of  sprinkling,  that  speaketh  better  things  than  the 
blood  of  Abel."  Now  "the  riches  of  his  glory"  are  spread 
out  over  "the  vessels  of  mercy,  which  he  had  afore  pre- 
pared unto  glory." 

Nor  were  these  things  done  in  a  corner.  The  crucifixion 
was  brought  about  by  the  jews,  whose  unique  institutions 
made  them  the  object  of  universal  observation  and  remark ; 
and  under  the  auspices  of  the  roman  government,  which 
was  the  mistress  of  the  world.  The  whole  story  was  speedi- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  85 

ly  told;  the  Jewish  temple  was  soon  destroyed ;  the  gentile 
.  mythology  was  quickly  assailed ;  christians  were  called  to 
endure  the  severest  persecutions ;  and  wherever  the  gospel 
came,  her  tidings  rapidly  spread  abroad.  These  two  dis- 
pensations have  been  incorporated  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind, and  can  never  be  forgotten.  That  the  righteousness 
of  the  law  cannot  justify  any  man,  and  that  the  righteous- 
ness of  faith  is  the  only  ground  of  moral  calculation,  are 
points  which  have  been  thus  demonstrated  to  the  world. 
The  errors  of  scholastic  theology  may  require  to  be  expos- 
ed, but  no  new  revelation  can  be  needed. 

There  is  still  another  view  which  may  be  taken  of  the 
election,  as  a  display  of  wise  rectoral  policy.     Previous  to 
the  flood  mankind  had  been  divided  by  circumstances  into 
two  classes.     The  descendants  of  Seth  dwelling  around  the 
great  antediluvian  symbol  of  the  divine  presence,  and  those 
of  Cain  who  had  departed  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord — 
both  of  which  are  described  under  the  general  phraseology, 
"  Sons  of  God"  and  "daughters  of  men," — constituted  these 
classes.     After  the  flood,  and  at  the  building  of  the  tower 
of  Babel,  a  new  division  took  place  ;  and  one  for  which  no 
specific  ordinances  had  been  provided.     This  division,  you 
readily  perceive,  was  that  which  separated  mankind  into 
nations.     A  new  mode  of  social  existence,  or  a  new  series 
of  social  relations,  was  thus  introduced  ;  and  certain  reci- 
procities, involving  the  good  of  the  whole,  became  necessa- 
ry.    A  law,  then,  would  be  called  for,  which  should  fairly 
recognise  and  regulate  those  reciprocities ;  and  which  should, 
under  some  general  form  or  magnificent  symbol,  set  forth  the 
great  principles  of  national  intercourse.  Thus  a  new  branch 
of  political  science  was  enacted ;  and  one  which  deserved 
a  great  deal  of  careful  thought  and  minute  inquiry.     Any 
man  who  has  made  "the  law  of  nations"  the  subject  of  an 
hour's  consideration,  can  readily  perceive  a  necessity  for 
some  divine  communication  in  reference  to  so  important  a 
matter.     Look  at  the  following  particulars. — Christian  na- 
Vol.  II.— 8 


$6  LECTURES  ON 

tions,  from  "a  sense  of  common  duty  and  interest,"  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  form  alliances.  "  It  became  a  gene- 
ral principle  of  belief  and  action,  that  it  was  not  only  a  right, 
but  a  duty,  to  reduce  to  obedience,  for  the  sake  of  conver- 
sion, every  people  who  professed  a  religious  faith  different 
from  their  own.  To  make  war  upon  infidels  was,  for  many 
ages,  a  conspicuous  part  of  european  public  law ;  and  this 
gross  perversion  of  the  doctrines  and  spirit  of  Christianity, 
had  at  least  one  propitious  effect  upon  the  christian  pow- 
ers, inasmuch  as  it  led  to  the  cultivation  of  peace  and  union 
between  them,  and  to  a  more  free  and  civilized  intercourse. 
The  notion  that  it  was  lawful  to  invade  and  subdue  ma- 
homedan  and  pagan  countries,  continued  very  long  to  sway 
the  minds  of  men ;  and  it  was  not  until  after  the  age  of 
Grotius  and  Bacon,  that  this  error  was  entirely  eradicated. 
Lord  Coke  held,  that  an  alliance  for  mutual  defence  was  un- 
lawful between  christians  and  turks ;  and  Grotius  was  very 
cautious  as  to  the  admission  of  the  lawfulness  of  alliances 
with  infidels,  and  he  had  no  doubt  that  all  christian  nations 
were  bound  to  assist  one  another  against  the  attacks  of  in- 
fidels. Even  lord  Bacon  thought  it  a  matter  of  so  much 
doubt,  as  to  propound  it  seriously  as  a  question,  whether  a 
war  with  infidels  was  not  first  in  order  of  dignity,  and  to  be 
preferred  to  all  other  just  temporal  quarrels?  and  whether 
a  war  with  infidels  might  not  be  undertaken  merely  "for 
the  propagation  of  the  christian  faith,  without  other  cause 
of  hostility?"*  When  you  reflect  on  these  opinions,  and 
the  course  of  policy  which  the  nations  were  led  to  adopt, 
you  can  readily  perceive  the  necessity  for  some  general 
law  ;  and  law  too  proceeding  from  the  great  arbiter  among 
the  nations. 

The  call  of  Abraham,  which  was  the  first  step  Jehovah 
took  in  order  to  introduce  "the  mystery  of  his  will,"  was 
synchronous  with  the  division  of  mankind  into  nations. 
The  covenant  made  with  this  patriarch  constituted  him  "the 

♦Kent's  Com.  Vol.  1.  Lee.  1. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.      «  87 

Heir  of  the  world,"  and  promised  that  in  him  and  in  his 
seed  all  the  families  or  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed,  A  moral  object  of  most  interesting  character, 
was  thus  held  up  to  the  view  of  his  posterity.  When  the 
descendants  of  Jacob  were  brought  into  their  national  or- 
ganization by  the  law  given  at  Sinai,  the  compact  then 
made,  though  particular  in  its  application,  was  designed  to 
exert  a  moral  influence  of  the  widest  extent.  Consistent- 
ly with  that  design  the  Israelites  were  forbidden  to  oppress 
the  stranger  or  the  foreigner ;  were  explicitly  told  that  God 
loved  the  stranger;  and  were  reminded  that,  by  having 
been  themselves  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  they  were 
taught  a  lesson  of  kindness  to  strangers.  The  whole  nation 
was  thus  required  to  set  a  moral  example  before  the  eye* 
of  the  nations  ;  and  by  this  means  to  promulgate  public 
law  in  view  of  the  national  divisions  which  had  taken 
place ;  and  law  which  was  like  all  other  forms  of  divine 

law THE  LAW  OF  LOVE. 

The  new  covenant,  or  the  christian  dispensation  under 
which  the  gentiles  have  been  elected,  confided  to  the  apos- 
tles a  moral  commission,  which  is  expressed  in  the  broad- 
est terms  that  human  language  affords.  "Go,"  said  the 
risen  Saviour,  "  and  disciple  all  nations — preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature — ye  shall  be  witnesses  for  me  in  Jerusa- 
lem, in  all  Judea,  in  Samaria,  and  to  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth."  The  members  of  the  new  testament  church 
were  afterwards  admonished  not  to  maltreat  the  jews ;  and 
while  they  did  good  especially  to  the  household  of  faith, 
yet  to  do  good  to  all  men.  The  Redeemer  is  declared  to 
be  the  Saviour  of  all  men,  while  he  is  especially  the  Sa- 
viour of  them  that  believe  ;  and  a  millennium  is  foretold, 
in  which  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of 
God.  Here,  then,  is  a  second  exhibition  of  public  law — 
the  law  of  nations ;  and  again  it  is  the  law  of  love.  But 
the  doctrine  of  personal  election  unto  eternal  life  has  frit- 
tered away  all  these  high  political  considerations,  and  con- 


88  LECTURES  ON 

verted  "the  mystery  of  the  divine  will"  into  a  small  meta- 
physical dogma.  Election,  as  exhibited  in  the  scriptures, 
served  a  very  different  purpose  from  that  on  which  theo- 
logians have  so  often  and  so  strenuously  insisted ;  and  a 
purpose  which  manifests  the  wisdom  and  love  of  the  great 
Governor  of  the  world  on  a  much  higher  scale  than  that 
which  these  moralists  appear  to  have  contemplated.  Elec- 
tion exhibited  the  law  of  nations  under  a  visible  symbol. 

Such  has  been  the  policy  of  the  two  dispensations — and 
can  any  one  doubt  its  wisdom  ?  How  can  we  judge  of  the 
propriety  of  a  measure,  but  by  its  design  ?  and  if  the  design 
be  accomplished,  while  its  character  is  unequivocal,  who 
shall  condemn  the  measure  ?  In  the  present  case  Jehovah 
comes  forth  from  his  place  to  reorganize  society,  whose 
way  had  been  corrupted  before  him  ;  while  he  graciously 
refrains  from  pouring  out  his  judgments,  or  visiting  general 
depravity  as  it  deserved.  He  aims  at  recalling  the  human 
mind  to  consider  its  evangelical  privileges,  and  to  abandon 
its  errors.  When  his  whole  plan  is  developed  as  rapidly 
as  men  can  bear  it,  it  turns  out  to  be  a  clear  and  irrefutable 
demonstration  of  the  truth  which  had  been  proclaimed 
from  the  beginning,  and  the  perversion  of  which  was  the 
very  error  that  needed  correction.  No  one  can  say  that 
this  plan  did  not  involve  "a  purpose  of  election;"  or 
that  the  history  of  the  two  dispensations  is  not  the  history 
of  such  a  purpose  carried  out  into  execution.  And  if  so, 
that  election  ought  to  stand  forth  distinct  and  prominent,  in 
a  systematic  detail  of  the  divine  proceedings.  But  in  the 
anxiety  to  maintain  an  individual  election  to  eternal  life, 
this  "mystery  of  the  divine  will"  has  been  almost  entirely 
forgotten  :  and  those  portions  of  scripture  which  actually 
belong  to  it,  have  been  purloined  from  their  own  connex- 
ions, in  order  to  sustain  the  sectarian  dogma. 

Of  the  wisdom  of  such  policy,  we  may  the  most  readily 
judge  from  reviewing  the  character  and  operations  of  the 
dispensation  under  which   we  live ;  or  we  might   do  so, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  89 

had  it  not  been  so  strangely  metamorphosed  by  the 
false  philosophy  and  false  politics  which  have  reigned 
so  empirically  in  our  ecclesiastical  councils.  It  was 
scarcely  possible,  methinks,  for  a  man  of  reflection,  who 
can  divest  himself  of  popular  prejudices,  and  who  can 
dare  to  inquire  after  the  reason  of  opinions  which  have 
been  so  long  protected  by  great  names,  to  read  the  new 
testament  without  feeling  himself  surprised  by  the  sim- 
ple organization  it  enacts.  The  unostentatious  eldership, 
the  intellectual  employment  which  preaching  the  gos- 
pel enjoins,  and  the  few  memorials  which  are  embodied  in 
symbolical  institutions,  are  so  well  adapted  to  a  matured 
state  of  society,  that  such  an  individual  would  necessarily 
be  charmed.  But  councils  and  popes,  and  ambitious  dio- 
cesans, and  inconsistent  or  imperfect  reformers,  and  con- 
tending sects,  have  so  disfigured  the  whole,  and  have  so 
completely  substituted  physical  power  for  the  moral  sense, 
that  Bacon  himself  would  in  vain  try  to  assure  us  that 
11  knowledge  is  power;"  and  Paul,  the  apostle,  could  not 
assign  to  conscience  its  appropriate  sphere.  A  hierarchy 
and  a  creed  seem  to  constitute  the  loftiest  conceptions  of 
learned  polemics — or  perhaps  they  may  rise  a  step  higher, 
and  covet  a  monarch's  smiles,  or  grasp  a  chieftain's  sword. 
And  can  this  state  of  the  church  be  typical  of  the  coming 
times  when  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the 
earth  as  the  water  covers  the  seas?  Yet  evangelical  so- 
ciety, as  exemplified  among  the  elect,  ought  to  be  a  type 
of  society  under  the  universal  reign  of  righteousness  and 
peace.  With  such  facts  before  us,  it  is  not  matter  of  won- 
der that  we  have  so  much  difficulty  in  describing  before- 
hand what  the  millennium  shall  be ;  or  that  the  tendency  of 
the  present  agitations  is  not  foreseen.  But  if  our  exposition 
of  the  mystery  of  the  divine  will  has  been  correct,  we 
ought  long  since  to  have  disclosed  to  the  nations  the  glorv 
that  awaits  them.  The  election  has  been  but  an  inter- 
mediate link  in  the  chain  of  the  mediatorial  government — 
8* 


90  LECTURES  01* 

a  conspicuous,  a  magnificent  exhibition  of  the  divine  wis- 
dom— an  interesting  and  glorious  display  of  the  divine 
mercy — as  the  Prince  of  life  hastens  to  establish  his  me- 
diatorial kingdom,  ere  the  awful  catastrophe  when  the 
judgment  shall  begin,  and  time  shall  be  no  more. 

I  have  now  given  the  first  view  of  the  scriptural  doctrine 
of  election.  While  this  view  cannot  be  denied  to  be 
scriptural,  there  is  nothing  appearing  in  it  to  contradict  the 
universality  of  the  gospel,  to  contravene  the  doctrine  of 
personal  responsibility,  or  to  limit  the  extent  of  the 
atonement,  or  the  institute  of  reconciliation.  The  word  of 
reconciliation,  proclaiming  the  righteousness  of  faith,  is  the 
property  of  neither  jew  nor  gentile,  separately  considered  ; 
but  has  been  given  to  the  whole  world.  And  this  I  believe 
has  been  fairly  demonstrated.. 


LECTURE  XML 


Subject    continued — Jewish  Proverb' — The  two    Covenants 
farther   illustrated — God's  dealing  with    JVations — Ac- 
tion of  the  social  principle — Principles  of  judgment — 
Sons  of  God — First  begotten  and  Heir —  Voluntary  asso- 
ciations— Elect  Angels* 

Before  I  leave  the  subject  of  the  last  lecture,  another 
feature  of  the  two  dispensations  deserves  our  particular  at- 
tention. Many  a  moral  physiognomist  has  mistaken  its 
indication,  or  misunderstood  its  expression.  Indeed,  on 
the  commonly  received  principles  of  exposition,  I  do  not 
gee  how  the  moralist  could  satisfactorily  explain  the  bibli- 
cal difficulty,  and  yet  enforce  the  doctrine  of  personal  re- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  91 

sponsibility  on  the  human  conscience.  You  will  feel  all 
the  perplexity  which  I  suppose  to  exist,  the  moment  the 
matter  alluded  to  is  announced.  It  is  very  distinctly  de- 
clared in  the  second  commandment,  that  God  "  is  a  jealous 
God,  visiting  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children 
unto  the  third  and  fourth  generations  of  them  that  hate 
him ;  and  showing  mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that  love 
him  and  keep  his  commandments."  You  realize  the  diffi- 
culty— do  you  not  ?  and  find  yourselves  hard  pressed  for  an 
explanation,  when  an  infidel  avers  such  a  providence  to  be 
unworthy  of  Jehovah.  The  fact  is  seen  in  every  age,  in 
every  country,  and  in  every  family.  It  is  again  and  again 
recognised  in  the  scriptures.  Yet  the  sceptic  objects,  co- 
vering his  argument  against  nature,  against  facts,  and 
against  the  essential  principles  of  political  science,  by 
seeming,  or  pretending,  to  criticise  only  the  scriptures. 

The  objection  is  old.  The  difficulty  has  been  felt,  and 
the  subject  has  been  canvassed  a  thousand  times.  You 
remember  that  the  jews  themselves  said — "The  way  of 
the  Lord  is  not  equal;"  and  used  the  proverb  concerning 
the  land  of  Israel,  saying — "  The  fathers  have  eaten  sour 
grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge."  Many 
quotations  might  be  made,  in  which  this  political  operation 
would  appear  prominent,  and  distinct ;  but  with  these  you 
are  no  doubt  familiar.  You  may  remember  that  Jehovah 
more  than  once  argued  with  his  people  on  this  very  point. 
At  one  time  he  said — "  In  those  days  they  shall  say  no 
more,  the  fathers  have  eaten  a  sour  grape,  and  the  chil- 
dren's teeth  are  set  on  edge.  But  every  one  shall  die  for 
his  own  iniquity :  every  man  that  eateth  the  sour  grape, 
his  teeth  shall  be  set  on  edge."  *  At  another  time  he  said 
— "As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  ye  shall  not  have  occa- 
sion any  more  to  use  this  proverb  in  Israel — Behold  all 
souls  are  mine  ;  as  the  soul  of  the  father,  so  also  the  soul 
of  the  son  is  mine  :  the  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die."t 
*Jer.  xxxi.  27,  30.        fEzek.  xviii.  2,  4. 


92  LECTURES  ON 

Sceptics  are  not  always  as  ingenious  nor  original  as  they 
would  appear  to  be.  Their  objections  have  been  antici- 
pated and  answered  by  inspiration  itself.  I  am,  however, 
far  from  being  certain  that  this  divine  assurance  has  re- 
lieved the  difficulty,  when  it  has  been  subjected  to  polemic 
analysis.  God,  on  the  contrary,  I  apprehend,  is  sometimes 
supposed  explicitly  and  formally  to  repeal  a  part  of  the 
statute,  and  to  pledge  himself  no  more  to  "  visit  the  iniqui- 
ties of  the  fathers  upon  the  children."  But  is  this  true? 
Are  there  no  hereditary  maladies  or  disabilities  ?  Is  it  so 
that,  in  political,  commercial,  or  domestic  circles,  children 
do  not  suffer  on  account,  or  in  consequence,  of  parental  de- 
linquencies ?  Neither  theologian  nor  philosopher  can  take 
this  ground,  and  dispute  a  fact  which  is  so  common.  And 
if  they  did,  or  if  they  fairly  could,  what  would  become  of 
the  sceptic's  objection — that  such  a  fact  is  inconsistent 
with  a  divine  administration,  as  it  would  be  neither  just 
nor  good  ?  Are  we  to  concede  that,  up  to  the  time  of  this 
supposed  formal  repeal  of  the  statute,  the  divine  govern- 
ment was  not  just  nor  good  ?  This  we  cannot  do.  The 
christian  minister,  with  the  bible  in  his  hand,  must  take  a 
different  course  when  he  would 

"Justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man." 
Christianity  is  a  mediatorial  system — the  administration  of 
grace.  Its  elemental  principle  is  peace  on  earth  and  good 
will  to  men  ;  and  its  apostles  must  proclaim  freely  and  un- 
reservedly its  messages  of  love.  Let  us  try  to  explain  this 
matter  in  a  different  way.  It  has  several  peculiarities 
which  must  be  patiently  considered. 

1.  We  have  already  seen  that  Adam's  sin  has  introduced 
death  and  a  series  of  evils  commensurate  with  our  interest 
in  the  material  system.  These  consequences  descend, 
not  only  to  the  third  and  fourth  generations,  but  to  the 
latest  posterity  of  man,  involving  every  age  and  every 
clime.  The  introduction  of  the  gospel  assures  us  of  the 
resurrection,  but  does  not  remove  death.     "  It  is  appointed 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT. 

Unto  all  men  once  to  die."  In  like  manner  the  various 
calamities  of  life  are  not  removed,  though  they  may  be  the 
sanctified  means  of  our  moral  tuition. — The  ground,  labor- 
ing under  the  original  curse,  still  yields  briars  and  thorns, 
and  leaves  to  man  to  gain  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his 
brow.  Even  the  subsequent  curse  attendant  on  the  de- 
luge remains  to  this  day,  and  the  years  of  the  life  of 
man  are  few  and  evil.  Such  has  been  God's  providential 
course,  and  such  it  must  necessarily  be.  Let  the  politician 
arrange  his  civil  code,  and  the  counsellor  or  the  merchant 
tell  the  consequences  of  violated  trust  without  stating  an- 
alagous  circumstances,  if  they  can.  No  community  can 
be  organized  without  involving  all  its  members  in  the  trans- 
actions of  its  official  agents  to  the  whole  extent  of  the  social 
compact  by  which  it  exists.  The  natural  relations,  in  like 
manner,  must  involve  children  in  the  consequences  of  the 
conduct  of  their  parents.  Such  is  fact — such  is  philosophy — 
such  is  nature.  Who  objects  to  it?  Who  can  make  it  different  ? 
How  can  it  be  otherwise  ?  If  the  divine  government  be 
not  formed  on  the  same  general  principle,  it  cannot  be  -con- 
sistent with  the  nature  of  man ;  and  what  will  those  do  then 
who  are  ever  deifying  nature,  and  offering  their  homage 
in  her  great  temple  ?  Will  they  take  up  the  Jewish  pro- 
verb— "  The  fathers  have  eaten  a  sour  grape,  and  the  chil- 
dren's teeth  are  set  on  edge ;"  and  carry  it  out  as  an  apo- 
logy for  political  iniquities  or  commercial  frauds,  person- 
ally considered?  In  such  connexions,  would  any  man 
even  dream  of  uttering  such  a  proverb  ?  Or,  offering  it, 
would  not  the  whole  world  smile  at  his  simplicity,  or  rep- 
robate his  knavery  ? 

The  question  is — how  far  is  the  political  operation  to  be 
considered  as  necessary  and  just  in  tracing  or  justifying 
such  consequences  ?  And  the  answer  must  be,  just  so  far 
as  the  constitution,  which  applies  the  principle,  goes,  and 
no  farther.  Can  any  constitution  go  so  far  as  to  destroy  all 
personal  responsibility  ?     As  all  social  compacts  are  appli- 


94  LECTURES  ON 

cable  to  external  things,  is  not  that  argument  certainly  so- 
phistical which  presses  these  political  consequences  beyond 
those  external  things  ?  The  conclusion  in  such  a  case 
reaches  farther  than  the  premises ;  and,  by  encroaching  on 
personal  responsibility,  must  accuse  of  personal  sin.  The 
same  limit  must  be  equally  supposed  in  reference  to  divine 
constitutions,  which  actually  do  embody  the  laws  of  social 
life  in  certain  external  relations.  None  of  those  constitu- 
tions can  merge  personal  responsibility  beyond  a  mere  ex- 
ternal compact  or  connexion.  If  we  derive  our  spirits 
from  our  parents,  then,  as  our  spirits  would  belong  to  the 
material  system,  they  would  certainly  be  involved  in 
Adam's  sin.  All  distinction  between  matter  and  mind 
would  immediately  be  obliterated,  and  individuality  would 
be  entirely  lost  in  the  social  relation.  My  father's  sin,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes,  would  be  my  own  ;  and  his  mis- 
conduct would  involve  me  in  both  sin  and  suffering.  But 
if  God  gives  us  our  spirits,  then  the  natural  relation  is  ne- 
cessarily within  the  limits  of  political  influence,  and  per- 
sonal responsibility  remains  unhurt.  The  social  fabric 
might  be  dissolved,  but  the  individual  members,  though 
common  sharers  in  the  suffering,  would  yet  be  personally 
free  from  sin.  Hence  the  argument  which  we  have  pur- 
sued, that  Adam's  sin  might  involve  his  posterity  in  exter- 
nal suffering;  because  thus  far,  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
the  paradisiacal  institute  extends.  But  beyond  this  the 
judicial  question  turns  on  personal  responsibility.  To 
apply  the  Jewish  proverb  further  than  the  essential  law  of 
all  social  life,  and  to  teach  men  either  not  to  do,  or  to  ex- 
cuse themselves  for  not  doing,  their  personal  duty,  is  most 
assuredly  false  reasoning  in  morals.  No  man  may  thus 
justify  himself  at  any  bar,  human  or  divine. 

The  argument  in  reference  to  Adam's  sin  has  thus  been 
briefly  recapitulated,  with  a  view  of  again  distinctly  stating 
the  general  law  of  official  life ;  and  because  the  proverb 
under  consideration  being  hastily  applied  to  the  effect  of 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  95 

the  first  transgression  upon  the  human  family,  it  might  be 
inferred  that  the  declaration  of  Jehovah  to  the  people  of 
Israel,  was  an  absolute  repeal  of  that  law.  To  the  eye  of 
every  moral  philosopher  no  such  repeal  has  taken  place, 
nor  could  it,  he  sees,  without  destroying  the  whole  organ- 
ization of  society.     But  I  go  on  to  remark, 

2.  That  the  proverb,  whose  force  we  are  endeavoring  to 
ascertain,  when  uttered  by  Jewish  lips,  had  no  reference 
to  Adam's  sin  at  all.  The  jew  was  complaining  of  the 
operation  of  his  own  institutions.  "  What  mean  ye,"  says 
Jehovah,  "that  you  use  this  proverb  concerning  the  land 
of  Israeli"  That  land  was  under  a  very  peculiar  admin- 
istration, or  the  people  were  organized  under  very  peculiar 
laws.  As  a  society,  therefore,  the  general  principle  of 
social  life  must  be  established  among  them  as  it  is  in  all 
other  communities ;  and  to  the  whole  extent  of  the  singu- 
lar constitution  which  has  been  given  to  them.  Parents 
and  their  children  together  formed  the  body  politic,  and 
the  social  compact  embraced  successive  generations.  It 
is  manifest  that  in  no  other  way  could  such  a  community 
be  framed.  As  in  the  human  body,  if  one  member  suffer, 
all  the  other  members  suffer  with  it,  and  no  one  member 
could  say  to  another,  "I  have  no  need  of  thee" — so  is  it 
in  the  body  politic. 

The  sinaic  covenant,  as  has  been  observed,  was  very 
peculiar  in  its  character.  It  was  "the  ministration  of  con- 
demnation and  death,"  because  it  was  a  temporary  revival 
of  law.  Designed  to  be  symbolic  of  the  action  of  law  as 
originally  given  to  Adam,  and  which,  being  broken,  had 
entailed  death  on  Adam's  posterity,  it,  according  to  the 
principle  of  a  symbol,  must  accurately  and  distinctly  de- 
lineate the  great  outlines  of  the  thing  symbolized,  ff  the 
paradisiacal  constitution  wrs  social  or  official  in  its  charac- 
ter, and  brought  in  such  i  a  deteriorating  influence  on 
Adam's  children,  the  corresponding  attribute  must,  of  ne- 
cessity, be  strongly  marked  in  the  Jewish  economy  as  iti 


96  LECTURES  ON 

symbol.  If,  as  law,  the  operation  of  the  Mosaic  system 
might  be  viewed  as  oppressive,  and  so  evidently  oppressive 
that  even  an  apostle  would  describe  it  as  "  a  yoke  which 
neither  we  nor  our  fathers  were  able  to  bear" — is  it  very 
marvellous  that,  in  a  fretful  mood  or  in  a  rebellious  humor, 
a  stiff-necked  race,  who  often  declined  from  the  whole 
system,  and  rushed  into  idolatry,  should  utter  the  proverb 
we  are  considering?  It  is  unfortunately  but  too  common 
to  hear  christians,  even  with  superior  privileges,  complain- 
ing of  the  harshness  and  severity  of  divine  providence, 
as  though  even  now  "the  ways  of  the  Lord  were  not 
equal." 

You  perceive  that  no  part  of  our  exposition  embraces 
the  idea  commonly  represented  to  be  pelagian  ;  nor  sup- 
poses that  Adam's  posterity  were  not  affected,  either  in 
their  persons  or  circumstances  by  his  sin.  We  must  first 
abandon  the  scriptures,  and  become  blind  to  all  nature' 
around  us,  before  we  can  advocate  such  an  idea.  Our 
controversy  on  this  subject  is  with  dogmas,  not  with  facts — 
not  with  the  principle  of  official  life,  which  is  as  necessa- 
ry as  it  is  philosophical,  but  with  the  sophism  which  mer- 
ges every  thing  individual  in  the  social  compact,  and 
throws  moral  science  into  confusion  by  desecrating  person- 
al responsibility. 

3.  The  repeal  supposed  to  be  implied  in  the  declaration, 
— "As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  ye  shall  not  have  occasion 
any  more  to  use  this  proverb,  in  Israel,"*  cannot  extend  to 
the  general  statute,  which  from  the  beginning  involved  the 
interests  of  parents  and  children  in  a  common  constitution. 
Some,  it  is  true,  have  so  interpreted  the  divine  averment ; 
while  every  medical,  political,  or  commercial  observer 
knows  that  such  a  divine  declaration  would  not  correspond 
with  divine  providence.  The  repeal  can  affect  the  statute 
in  question,  only  so  far  as  thatttatute  applies  to  the  Jewish 

*  Ezek.  xviii.  3. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  97 

Commonwealth,  and  as  it  is  considered  to  be  an  emblemati- 
cal exposition  of  the  nature  of  law. 

But  even  when  thus  restricted,  the  difficulty  is  not  entirely 
removed.  For  it  can  scarcely  be  asserted  by  any  biblical 
student,  that,  from  the  time  Jehovah  gave  this  promise, 
the  attribute  of  government  under  consideration  was  dis- 
carded as  no  longer  characteristic  of  Jewish  law.  Such  a 
legislative  act  would  have  taken  from  the  Mosaic  institute 
a  large  part  of  its  typical  character ;  and  would  so  far  have 
defeated  its  very  object.  Nor  is  this  all.  It  might  be  far- 
ther asked,  how,  in  that  event,  could  we  explain  the  Re- 
deemer's judicial  announcement— "  Upon  you  shall  come 
all  the  righteous  blood  shed  upon  the  earth,  from  the  blood 
of  rio-hteous  Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  son  of  Ba- 
rachias,  whom  ye  slew  between  the  temple  and  the  altar?" * 
Manifestly  there  must  be  some  mistake  when  such  com- 
ments are  offered  to  us  as  scriptural  truth.  We  must  go 
farther  for  a  more  consistent  explanation. 

If  you  will  refer  again  to  the  quotation,  you  will  find  that 
it  is  a  part  of  the  prophetic  roll.  The  Spirit  of  prophecy 
is  declaring  by  his  servant  that  which  would  occur  at  a  fu- 
ture period.  It  is  on  this  roll  we  find  "the  testimony  of 
Jesus,"  and  by  it  the  saints  of  old  learned  beforehand  his 
sufferings  and  the  glory  that  should  follow.  This  simple 
circumstance  offers  a  very  different  view,  and  refers  the 
supposed  repeal  of  the  statute  in  question  to  coming  times. 
But  lest  any  should  reject  the  idea  as  a  mere  conjecture, 
evincing  a  fancy  more  exuberant  than  accurate,  let  us  turn 
to  the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah,  who  has  furnished  us  with 
the  fuller  details  of  the  contemplated  change.  "In  those 
days,"  he  reports,  they  shall  say  no  more — "The  fathers 
have  eaten  a  sour  grape,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on 
edge.  But  every  one  shall  die  for  his  own  iniquity,  every 
one  that  eateth  the  sour  grape,  his  teeth  shall  be  set  on 
edge.t  "What  days?  The  prophet  proceeds — "Behold  the 
Mat.  xxiii.  34 — 39.  «  f  Jer.  xxxi.  30—34. 

Vol.  II.— 9 


98  LECTURES  ON 

days  come  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  make  a  new  cove- 
nant with  the  house  of  Israel,  and  with  the  house  of Judah." 
This  prophecy  then  should  be  fulfilled,  when  a  new  cove- 
nant should  be  established ;  and  the  proverb  should  be 
wholly  inapplicable  under  the  new  administration,  which 
that  covenant  should  erect.  What  this  covenant  is  no  one 
can  mistake ;  for  the  apostle  Paul  has  applied  the  prophecy 
explicitly  to  the  christian  dispensation.*  The  force  of  the 
divine  declaration,  therefore  is,  that  the  legal  operation  of 
visiting  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto 
the  third  and  fourth  generation,  shall  not  be  the  charac- 
teristic of  the  new  economy. 

As  the  old  dispensation  was  something  appended  to  the 
ordinary  forms  of  government,  so  also  is  the  new.  The 
judicial  action  contemplated  belongs  to  the  ordinary  forms 
of  government ;  but  under  the  Mosaic  institute  it  was 
brought  in  by  a  new  enactment,  and  applied  to  a  new  set 
of  circumstances.  The  operation  was  like  that  which  was 
sustained  by  the  Mosaic  law  in  reference  to  death.  Death 
came  into  the  world  by  Adam's  sin,  and  involved  the  jews 
in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  race.  But  the  jews  sinned 
like  Adam,  and  thus  incurred  death  by  their  own  trans- 
gressions. Hence  they  lived  under  a  "  ministration  of 
death  ;"  and  hence  Paul  remarks,  "  I  was  alive  without  the 
law  once  ;  but  when  the  commandment  came  sin  revived  and 
I  died"  Now,  i.  e.  under  the  new  dispensation,  we  do 
not  and  cannot  sin  like  Adam,  and  therefore  are  not  under 
•'  the  ministration  of  death."  The  law  as  enacted  on 
Sinai  for  symbolical  purposes  has  been  repealed,  and  the 
operation  of  it,  as  such,  under  every  form,  has  ceased ;  of 
course  this  form  of  its  operation,  in  which,  symbolically, 
the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  are  visited  upon  the  children, 
is  done  away  too.  The  proverb  can  no  longer  be  used 
concerning  Israel  as  God's  chosen  or  elected  people — con- 

*  Heb.  viii.  7—13. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  99 

sidering  the  term  Israel  as  now  applicable  to  the  christian 
church. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  new  covenant  is  "  the  ministra- 
tion of  righteousness  and  life,"  or  is  designed  symbollically 
to  exhibit  the  means  and  conditions  of  salvation.  Its  dis- 
tinguishing feature  therefore  cannot  be  a  "visiting  the  ini- 
quities of  the  fathers  upon  the  children'1 — an  administration 
with  which  Jehovah  himself"  finds  fault."  Itmustbe  altoge- 
ther different,  and  visibly  "  better."  Its  great  character- 
istic must  be — "Mercy  shown  unto  children's  children." 
Had  Adam  kept  the  law,  he  would  have  secured  life  in- 
stead of  death,  and  blessings  instead  of  evils,  for  his  chil- 
dren. The  other  side — or  that  which  is  opposed  to  law — 
the  other  side  of  the  social  principle  belonging  to  organ- 
ized communities  would  have  been  exemplified.  In  this 
view  that  principle  belongs  to  gospel,  is  brought  into  ac- 
tion by  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  and  necessarily  forms 
a  part  of  an  evangelic  administration.  While  gospel  is  the 
technical  term  of  the  new  economy,  this  social  operation, 
modified  by  evangelical  privileges,  must  particularly  dis- 
tinguish that  economy.  The  proverb  is  now  entirely 
changed.  God's  Israel,  instead  of  complaining — "  The  fa- 
thers have  eaten  a  sour  grape,  and  the  children's  teeth  are 
set  on  edge,"  may  take  up  their  song  and  sing — "  His  mer- 
cy is  unto  children's  children."  Hence  the  Redeemer  ad- 
monished his  disciples — "  Suffer  little  children  to  come  un- 
to me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  Hence  Peter,  who  was  honored  to  be  the  first 
to  open  the  doors  of  that  kingdom,  atone  time  to  the  jews, 
and  at  another  to  the  gentiles,  defined  its  extent  in  these 
delightful  terms — "  The  promise  is  to  you  and  your  chil- 
dren." With  one  accord,  all  the  Master's  disciples,  who 
went  out  commissioned  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature,  celebrate  the  exceeding  riches  of  grace. 

But  the  history  of  the  church  here  reminds  us  of 
one    of  her   unhappy   divisions,   and   one   which,  by   a 


100  LECTURES  ON 

strange  anomaly,  would  leave  the  Jewish  proverb  to  press 
upon  us  with  unbroken  force.  God  has  always  afforded  to 
mankind  external  symbols  of  moral  truths.  He  made  fire 
the  emblem  of  himself,  in  the  burning  bush,  on  Mount 
Sinai,  and  between  the  cherubim.  He  assumed  a  human 
form  and  conversed  with  the  patriarchs  like  a  man  speak- 
ing with  his  fellow. — He  symbolized  his  perfections  in  the 
heavens  and  the  earth. — He  typified  at  the  altar  the  cruci- 
fixion of  his  Son.  He  has  memorised  that  crucifixion  in 
the  ordinance  of  the  supper,  and  the  resurrection  in  the 
hallowed  sabbath. — The  jews  and  their  children  had  been 
circumcised. — A  thousand  like  interesting  exhibitions,  vi- 
vidly setting  forth  intended  benefits,  have  been  made.  Yet 
now,  though  a  distinguishing  feature  of  the  new  dispensa- 
tion is  "mercy  unto  children's  children,"  an  external 
symbol  of  that  delightful  truth,  we  are  told  by  many,  is  ab- 
surd, and  infant  baptism  is  declared  to  be  entirely  unwar- 
ranted. The  political  provision  that  identifies  parents  and 
their  children  in  every  other  organized  community,  is 
downright  folly,  it  has  been  said,  in  an  evangelical  commu- 
nity; unless  it  may  be  recognised  so  far  as  to  crush  our 
hopes  and  break  our  hearts,  when  our  infants  die.  The 
doctrine  of  native  depravity  is  unhesitatingly  received, 
and  our  children  are  remorselessly  thrown  under  the  con- 
demnation of  temporal,  spiritual  and  eternal  death  for 
Adam's  sin  ; — "  The  fathers  have  eaten  a  sour  grape — the 
children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge."  But  the  idea  of  salva- 
tion by  the  righteousness  of  Christ  unequivocally  and  free- 
ly spreading  the  riches  of  grace  over  our  offspring — who 
distinctly  apprehends  it?  Baptism,  we  are  told,  does  no 
good,  and  has  no  meaning,  when  children  are  its  subjects. 
With  such  doubts  and  scrupulous  restrictions  on  the  pro- 
mises of  redeeming  love,  and  the  remedial  extent  of  the  new 
covenant,  my  soul  asks  no  communion. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  asked,  whether  our  argument  does 
not  entirely  destroy  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  iniquities  of 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  101 

the  fathers  being  visited  upon  the  children  ?  By  no  means*. 
In  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  evil  has  become  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  material  system  ;  nor  can  we  escape  from 
it  without  the  whole  physical  organization  being  altered, 
or  our  connexion  with  it  being  broken  up.  The  gospel  is 
remedial ;  but  as  a  remedy  it  is  carried  out  in  the  midst  of 
the  circumstances  where  the  remedy  is  needed.  Destroy 
those  circumstances,  and  you  take  away  the  necessity  for 
the  remedy.  You  know  how  the  fact  is  presented  in  view 
of  death.  Christ  is  the  resurrection  and  the  life,  yet  still 
"  it  is  appointed  unto  all  men  once  to  die."  So  is  it  in  re- 
regard  of  our  present  subject.  The  operation  of  the  gos- 
pel is  to  bring  in  mercy  on  us  and  our  children  ;  but  while 
we  and  they  are  in  this  world,  and  form  a  part  of  the  gene- 
ral physical  system,  we  cannot  escape  from  the  action  ot 
its  constituent  principles.  The  facts  then  stand  thus  : — 
while  on  the  one  hand  Adam's  sin  brings  death  and  evil, 
and  these  pass  down  from  generation  to  generation : 
so  on  the  other  hand,  Christ's  righteousness  brings  life 
and  blessing,  and  these  pass  down  from  generation  to 
generation,  extending  over  the  whole  human  family. 
By  one  man's  sin  all  are  brought  into  condemnation — bv 
one  man's  righteousness  all  are  brought  into  justification  of 
life.  "  Man  is  born  to  trouble  as  the  sparks  fly  upward." — 
M  The  Lord  is  good  unto  all  men,  his  tender  mercies  are  over 
all  his  works."  These  things  are  every  where  exhibited, 
and  respectively  belong  to  the  system  under  which  we  live, 
as  modified  by  an  evangelical  administration.  Every 
where  if  men,  notwithstanding  such  provisions,  will  live 
in  sin,  they  must  expect  evil,  and  that  evil  will  pass  from 
generation  to  generation.  But  if  profiting  by  evangelic 
privileges,  they  are  induced  to  do  good,  that  good  will  be 
followed  by  blessings,  and  those  blessings  will  descend 
from  generation  to  generation.  In  that  case,  even  afflic- 
tion will  be  but  a  "blessing  in  disguise." 

It  is  a  very  strongly  marked  circumstance  in  the  history 
9* 


102  LECTURES  ON 

of  mankind,  that  whole   nations   will    gradually  deteriorate 

in  their  physical  constitution  and  external  circumstances, 
and  as  a  matter  of  consequent  necessity  in  mental  energy. 
It  is  equally  striking  that  other  nations  improve  in  their 
physical  constitution  and  external  circumstances  ,  and  con- 
sequentty  in  mental  energy.  What  a  multitude  of  in- 
stances of  this  kind,  have  historians  and  naturalists  brought 
forward  to  astonish  and  perplex  the  theologian  ;  who,  cut- 
ting the  gordian  knot,  as  usual  retreats  into. mystery  and 
sovereignty.  Here  the  sceptic  and  the  christian  are  at 
issue;  and  one  talks  about  the  gospel,  while  the  other  eulo- 
logizes  education,  without  suspecting  that,  in  principle, 
each  is  suggesting  the  same  remedy.  If  one  generation 
becomes  sensual  or  superstitious,  how  can  it  be  otherwise 
than  that  a  like  character  should  be  stamped  upon  that 
which  succeeds  ?  If  on  the  other  hand  one  generation  be- 
comes intelligent  and  virtuous,  how  can  it  be  otherwise 
than  that  that  which  succeeds  should  be  in  like  manner 
cultivated  and  refined  ?  Surely  in  such  practical  results 
must  be  found  the  whole  philosophy  and  force  of  the  na- 
tural relations  ;  and  to  recognise  it  in  theory  and  practice 
is  essential  to  the  well  being  of  society,  both  in  an  intelli- 
gent and  moral  point  of  view.  It  is  here  where  the  theo- 
logian has  committed  his  grand  mistake,  when  he  learned  to 
merge  the  freedom  of  individual  thought  and  inquiry  in 
official  infallibility.  It  is  here  where  the  politician  has 
committed  Ms  desolating  error,  when  in  his  military  might 
he  rode  triumphant  over  the  prostrated  rights  of  his  coun- 
try. It  is  here  where  the  parent  commits  the  deepest 
offence  against  the  souls  of  his  children,  when  by  severity 
of  restraint  he  arrests  their  intellectual  growth  ;  when  by 
corrupt  practices  he  vitiates  their  consciences  or  misdirects 
their  faculties ;  and  when  by  excessive  indulgence  he  re- 
nounces his  official  influence.  The  very  fountains  of  so- 
cial life  are  poisoned,  and  every  thing  hastens  into  prema- 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  103 

ture  decay,  needing  some  new  revolution  to  burst  the  fet- 
ters of  social  death. 

These  general  principles  our  exposition  of  the  two  dis- 
pensations does  not  overthrow.  These  principles  cannot 
be  overthrown,  though  they  may  be  misunderstood  and  for- 
gotten. Illustrated  and  sustained  by  the  results  or  opera- 
tions of  the  paradisiacal  constitution  and  the  mediatorial 
institute,  yet  men  seem  to  have  lost  sight  of  them.  Jeho- 
vah steps  forth  in  mercy  again  to  exhibit  them  ;  and,  in 
erecting  the  two  dispensations,  creates  two  new,  but  tem- 
porary, symbols.  These  take  up  respectively  the  laws  of 
social  life ;  and  when  repealed,  overturn  not  the  laws  them- 
selves, but  merely  remove  their  symbols,  or  leave  those  sym- 
bols as  matters  of  history,  never  to  be  obliterated  from  the 
records  of  man.  They  interfere  not  with  the  general  polit- 
ical operation  which  seems  to  convey  the  consequences  of 
Adam's  sin  over  the  whole  world,  and  throughout  all  gene- 
rations. Nor  do  the  facts  and  the  objections  urged  by  the 
sceptic,  militate  in  the  least  against  the  doctrine  of  sym- 
bols now  advanced  in  connexion  with  that  of  election.  The 
election  merely  brings  in  a  second  and  strongly  marked  il- 
lustration of  the  same  general  laws ;  an  illustration  which, 
though  analogous,  is  intended  to  be  highly  beneficial,  yet 
temporary.  Accordingly,  any  one  who  compares  the  his- 
tory of  the  jews  with  that  of  the  gentiles  around  them, 
may  readily  perceive  how  very  superior  the  descendants  of 
Abraham  were,  in  consequence  of  the  better  tuition  they 
enjoyed.  He  may  mark  that  superiority  in  physical  cir- 
cumstances and  intellectual  character,  distinguishing;  gene- 
ration  after  generation  ;  though  he  may  mourn  over  their 
many  national  derelictions  and  the  judgments  which  fol- 
lowed. And  he  may  observe  a  like  superiority  when  com- 
paring christian  nations  with  heathen  communities,  though 
he  may  often  mourn  over  the  sectarian  strife,  the  aberra- 
tions under  papal  misrule,  the  metaphysical  errors,  and  the 
political  combinations  of  the  former ;  and  may  discern  all 


104  LECTURES  ON 

those  social  derelictions  to  be  even  now  hastening  the 
church  into  conflict  and  revolution.  But  still  the  great 
laws  of  nature  have  been  symbolically  and  most  vividly 
demonstrated.  If  this  be  so,  the  two  dispensations  have 
happily  accomplished  their  object,  and  our  doctrine  of 
election  stands  forth  justified  and  commended  to  every 
intelligent  mind.  It  drives  no  inquirer  to  distraction  and 
despair,  but  serving  the  general  purposes  of  mercy,  it  is 
calculated  to  develop  the  principles  of  essential  truth,  and 
the  only  scheme  of  salvation  consistent  with  the  nature  of 
man.  Political  in  its  character  and  general  views,  our  ex- 
position yet  throws  every  one  on  his  personal  responsibility, 
and  places  the  moral  interests  of  our  race  in  their  appro- 
priate connexions. 

4.  It  may  possibly  be  objected  to  the  foregoing  observa- 
tions that,  after  all,  the  remarks  which  Jehovah  made  to  the 
complaining  jews  have  not  been  explained.  For  the  quo- 
tation may  be  extended ;  and  then  we  shall  be  reminded, 
that  in  very  general  terms  it  was  said,  "  the  son  shall  not 
bear  the  iniquity  of  the  father,  neither  shall  the  father  bear 
the  iniquity  of  the  son  :  the  righteousness  of  the  righteous 
shall  be  upon  him,  and  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked  shall 
be  upon  him."  This,  and  many  such  like  expressions, 
might  be  urged  as  rather  militating  against  our  interpreta- 
tion. But  even  this  text,  the  strongest  perhaps  which  could 
have  been  selected,  cannot  sustain  the  objection.  For  the 
new  clause — "  neither  shall  the  father  bear  the  iniquity  of 
the  son,"  seems  to  extend  the  field  of  observation,  and  to 
throw  the  whole  subject  into  some  new  form.  The  con- 
text also  confirms  that  idea ;  for  Jehovah  is  represented  as 
asking — "  Have  I  any  pleasure  at  all  that  the  wicked  should 
die  ?"  Do  ye  suppose  that  in  any  way  I  should  interfere 
with  the  wicked,  "  that  he  should  not  return  from  his  ways 
and  live  ?  or  that  "  the  covenant"  which  I  gave  should  be 
really  injurious,  instead  of  being  beneficial?  No  verily. 
"Repent  and  turn  yourselves  from  all  your  transgressions: 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  105 

so  iniquity  shall  not  be  your  ruin."  The  plain  meaning  of 
all  which  is,  that  while  law  operates  in  the  manner  stated, 
the  only  remedy  is  to  be  found  in  the  gospel ;  and  this,  as 
has  been  already  shown  at  large,  announces  its  proposals  on 
the  principle  of  personal  responsibility.  All  this  is  evident ; 
for  that  God  has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  sinner,  is 
the  magnificent  idea  every  where  expanded  on  the  face  of 
the  scriptures  ;  and  repentance  is  an  evangelic  duty,  called 
for  by  our  mediatorial  prince,  in  view  of  which  he  forbears 
to  execute  his  wrath  and  waits  to  be  gracious. 

From  the  hour  that  the  first  promise  was  given,  the  con- 
sequences of  violated  law  were  modified  by  the  remedial 
institute.  Good  was  mingled  along  with  the  evil.  Every 
part  of  the  world  and  every  generation  of  man,  has  heard 
Jehovah's  witness.  "  He  did  good — he  gave  rain  from 
heaven  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  the  hearts  of  his  off- 
spring with  food  and  gladness."  He  made  his  sun  to  rise 
on  the  evil  and  the  good,  and  sent  rain  on  the  just  and  the 
unjust.  His  sound  went  into  all  the  earth,  and  his  words 
unto  the  ends  of  the  world.  The  times  of  ignorance  he 
winked  at,  leading  men  to  repentance  by  his  "goodness, 
forbearance,  and  long-suffering  kindness."  Thus  he  deals 
with  the  world  still.  The  seasons  have  never  ceased,  and 
the  bow  in  the  clouds  has  never  lost  its  promised  beauty, 
nor  disappointed  human  hope.  Never  has  the  humble  sup- 
pliant been  refused — never  has  the  returning  sinner  been 
rejected.  How  could  any  one  suppose  that  Jehovah  had 
ever  withdrawn  his  gospel,  or  disregarded  the  repentance, 
which  a  sense  of  personal  responsibility,  a  conviction  of 
sin,  and  a  longing  after  immortality  had  produced  ? 

Of  course,  while  the  general  laws  of  social  life  were  of 
this  mixed  character,  their  symbol  must  have  correspond- 
ing attributes.  The  Jewish  dispensation  must  recognise 
the  remedial  agent,  and  remit  to  the  penitent  the  iniqui- 
ties he  had  committed.  Could  any  doubt  arise  in  your 
minds,  or  could  you  question  the  accuracy  of  my  remarks, 


lOfl  LECTURES  ON 

a  simple  reference  to  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  under  which 
the  sinaic  ritual  was  given,  would  immediately  relieve  you. 
For  you  remember  that  the  covenant  made  with  this  friend 
of  God  was  purely  evangelical.  Or  if  you  ask  for  more, 
you  have  only  to  call  up  to  your  recollection,  how  often  that 
people  cried  unto  the  Lord  in  their  extremity,  and  were 
heard  and  delivered  :  and  finally,  to  consider,  but  for  a  mo- 
ment, the  proclamation  in  Messiah's  days,  when  the  whole 
world  had  become  guilty  before  the  Lord, — "  Repent,  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  Here  in  truth  every 
moral  revolution  must  commence.  Such  a  change  calls  on 
men  to  see  and  mourn  over,  not  to  justify  or  defend,  their 
father's  errors  ;  and,  betaking  themselves  to  personal  respon- 
sibility, where  all  gospel  begins  its  remedial  display,  to  turn 
from  sin  and  folly  that  the  Lord  may  bless  them.  Such 
will  be  the  incipient  exhibition  which  the  millennium  shall 
succeed.  Here  the  agitations  which  are  now  convulsing 
the  world  arise.  And  they  who  have  gone  no  farther  than 
to  tell  to  every  perplexed  mind  and  troubled  heart,  how  ex- 
cellent, virtuous  and  wise  the  fathers  were,  and  bitterly  to 
mourn  that  the  former  days  were  better  than  these,  have 
yet  to  learn  the  first  lesson  of  moral  improvement.  Re- 
pentance, resulting  from  the  exercise  of  personal  respon- 
sibility, is  the  harbinger  of  social  blessedness. 

I  cannot  persuade  myself,  though  it  may  seem  to  be  a  di- 
gression from  the  regular  course  of  the  argument,  to  suffer 
to  pass  by  unimproved  so  favorable  an  opportunity  of  re- 
marking, that  law  and  gospel  do  not  seem  to  be  such  dis- 
cordant systems,  as  they  have  been  sometimes  represented 
to  be.  They  do  not  appear  to  be  so  far  distant  from  each 
other,  that  when  Adam  fell,  a  remedial  agency  was  no 
where  to  be  discovered,  until  God  in  the  exercise  of  abso- 
lute sovereignty  should  create  one.  Nor  do  they  seem  to 
be  so  entirely  unlike  to  each  other,  that  the  gospel  should 
be  constantly  represented  to  be  so  profoundly  myste- 
rious, that  nature,  reason,  and  philosophy  should  be  consid- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  107 

ered  as  inimical  to  her  claims,  and  irrelevant  in  the  illus- 
tration of  her  doctrines.  In  the  history  of  the  jews  the 
two  may  be  seen  side  by  side,  without  betraying  any  dis- 
crepancy ;  nor  is  a  sufficiency  predicated  of  the  one,  or  an 
insufficiency  of  the  other,  in  any  other  view,  than  that  of 
"  the  weakness  of  the  flesh."  Their  principles  are  essen- 
tially the  same ;  and  their  object  they  have  in  common — 
i.  e.  the  conformity  of  man  to  the  image  of  his  Creator,  is 
the  design  of  the  political  and  moral  operations  of  both. 
Yet  literary  men,  who  venture  to  speak  about  reason,  phi- 
losophy, and  nature,  in  connexion  with  moral  subjects,  are 
generally  frowned  upon  as  infidels;  while  yet  they  may 
have  done  nothing  more  than  protest  against  the  supersti- 
tious dogmas  of  theological  systems.  Such  men  may  blame 
themselves,  because  that,  when  they  assailed  established 
superstitions,  papal  or  protestant,  they  did  not  substitute 
something  better.  If  they  reply  that,  they  did  attempt  to 
offer  more  rational  views,  the  answer  is  at  hand — They  of- 
fered their  explanations,  at  the  expense  of  the  bible  and  the 
mediatorial  provisions  which  it  unfolds.  Here  is  their  fol- 
ly. The  bible  and  its  mediatorial  system,  they  never  can 
eject  from  the  world.  It  is  in  vain  for  them  to  try  the  har- 
dy experiment.  They  ought  to  have  studied  the  bible ; 
and  then,  while  they  would  have  enlightened  their  own 
reason,  they  might  have  corrected  the  superstition  of  their 
neighbors.  The  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  the  best  agents 
to  effect  the  abduction  of  the  bible,  as  the  history  of  papal 
infallibility  has  abundantly  evinced.  Would  to  God  that 
protestant  ministers  were  intelligent  and  faithful  enough  to 
bring  the  bible  back  again,  as  the  reformers  professed.  But, 
alas !  they  have  given  us  their  creeds  and  their  sectarian 
codes.  And  the  disciples  of  reason,  of  nature,  and  of  phi- 
losophy, have  not,  no  not  even  in  the  dark  ages,  done  one 
single  thing  to  bring  the  mediatorial  laws  of  Prince  Mes- 
siah to  bear  upon  the  human  conscience.  And  what  may 
be  expected  for  a  system,  whose  friends  and  foes  are  alike 


109  LECTURES  ON 

ignorant  of,  or  inimical  to,  its  lofty  and  magnificent  views. 
Thus  Christianity  has  fared.  Thus  it  fares  now;  and  our 
intelligent  and  professional  men,  seem  to  be  holding  on  in 
the  same  course  which  their  predecessors  followed  ;  and  who 
left  the  world  to  grow  in  infidelity  or  superstition — as  the 
case  might  be. — Will  any  one  be  courageous  enough  to 
take  the  ground  that  nature,  reason,  philosophy,  and  the 
gospel  are  all  alike  ?  or  that  the  works  of  nature  and  grace 
are  in  most  perfect  harmony  with  each  ofher  ? — To  return. 

There  yet  remains  one  other  inquiry.  If  social  law  will 
run  the  course  which  has  been  described,  and  if,  when  a 
community  has  gradually  deteriorated  through  a  succession 
of  generations,  personal  responsibility  must  be  relied  on  by 
every  remedial  agent,  what  extent  of  moral  effort  will  be 
called  for  ?  or  will  be  either  acceptable  or  profitable  ?  How 
far,  and  by  what  rule,  are  human  beings,  thus  circum- 
stanced responsible  ?  These  questions  are  very  important, 
and  to  many  may  be  very  troublesome.  Let  us  look  after 
their  moral  bearings. 

1.  Paul  remarks  to  the  Corinthians,  that — "If  there  be 
first  a  willing  mind,  it  is  according  to  that  a  man  hath,  and 
not  according  to  that  he  hath  not."  The  Master  said — "That 
servant  which  knew  his  lord's  will,  and  prepared  not  him- 
self, neither  did  according  to  his  will,  shall  be  beaten  with 
many  stripes.  But  he  that  knew  not,  and  did  commit  things 
worthy  of  stripes,  shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes."  "  For 
unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  much  be  re- 
quired ;  and  to  whom  men  have  committed  much,  of  him 
they  will  ask  the  more."  He  who  had  received  five  talents 
was  accountable  for  five. talents  :  he  who  had  received  two 
talents  was  accountable  for  iwo ;  and  he  who  received  one 
talent  was  accountable  for  one.  Distribution  is  "  made  to 
every  man  according  to  his  several  ability."  Every  man 
is  then  accountable  according  to  his  several  ability.  This  is 
perfectly  fair,  is  it  not  ?  Can  a  blind  man  be  accountable 
for  not  seeing  ?  a  deaf  man  for  not  hearing  ?  a  lame  man 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  ]09 

for  not  walking?  a  child  for  immaturity  ?  an  idiot  for  mental 
imbecility  ?  a  poor  man  for  riches  ?  a  sick  man  for  health  ? 
a  slave  for  freedom  ?  Certainly  not.  No  man- can  be  ac- 
countable for  that  which  he  has  not,  unless  he  lost  it  by  his 
own  fault;  or  declined  the  duty,  by  the  performance  of 
which  he  might  have  acquired  it.  Such  communities  then, 
as  our  questions  regard,  are  accountable  according  to  their 
ability.  Reduced  low  in  physical  constitution  and  exter- 
nal circumstances,  and  consequently  in  mental  energy,  they 
are  not  asked  for  five  talents  when  they  have  but  one. 

2?.  The  nature  of  personal  responsibility  is  the  same, 
though  the  amount  or  extent  of  it  may  vary.  The  jew  and 
the  gentile  were  each  morally  accountable ;  but  the  jew 
must  be  judged  by  the  law  he  had  received;  the  gentile 
was  a  law  unto  himself.  What  was  the  real  difference  be- 
tween these  two  responsible  beings  ?  or  the  laws  by  which 
they  were  respectively  judged  ?  Paul  tells  us,  in  very  sim- 
ple terms,  that  one  law  was  written  on  tables  of  stone,  and 
that  the  other  was  written  on  the  heart.  In  speaking  of  the 
gentiles,  he  is  referring  to  all  who  are  outside  of  the  elec- 
tion, and  of  course,  to  those  very  classes  of  beings — to  those 
very  deteriorated  generations — whose  case  we  are  consid- 
ering. While  then  the  jew  shall  be  condemned  as  a  trans- 
gressor against  his  own  law,  the  gentile  shall  not  be  judged 
by  it  ;  but  by  the  law  written  on  his  own  heart,  under  whose 
moral  force  his  conscience  was  roused  to  thought  and  ac- 
tion. 

A  similar  comparison  is  instituted  between  the  subjects 
of  the. two  dispensations.  The  christian  is  not  judged  by 
the  law  written  on  tables  of  stone,  because  he  is  not  under 
that  law.  His  responsibilities  are  higher,  because  his  ad- 
vantages are  greater.  The  argument  is — "If  the  word 
spoken  by  angels  was  steadfast,  and  every  transgression  re- 
ceived a  just  recompense  of  reward,  how  shall  we  escape, 
if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ? — of  how  much  sorer  pun- 
ishment shall  we  be  thought  worthy  ?  By  parity  of  rea- 
Vox.  II. — 10 


110  LECTURES  ON 

soning,  the  heathen  around  Christendom,  deteriorated  as 
those  nations  may  have  become  under  the  action  of  social 
laws,  shall  not  be  judged,  either  by  the  Jewish  or  the  chris- 
tian institute.  They  are  still  amenable  under  the  law 
written  upon  the  heart.  The  nations  are  accountable  ac- 
cording to  that  which  they  have,  and  not  according  to  that 
which  they  have  not,  or  according  to  their  several  ability. 

3.  The  apostle  further  informs  us  that  the  Redeemer  is 
the  judge  of  the  world,  and  that  he  will  try  the  secrets  of 
men  by  the  gospel.  All  the  results  of  Adam's  sin,  we 
have  seen,  are  modified  by  an  evangelic  administration. 
The  symbolic  action  of  law,  under  the  Mosaic  ritual,  was 
held  in  check  by  the  evangelic  principle  of  the  Abrahamic 
covenant,  as  well  as  by  the  circumstances  of  its  own  insti- 
tution, inasmuch  as  it  was  ordained  in  the  hands  of  a  me- 
diator. Of  the  evangelic  attributes  of  the  new  covenant, 
no  one  has  any  doubt.  In  fact,  as  the  scriptures  have  aver- 
red, all  men  are  brought  into  a  justification  of  life  by 
Christ's  righteousness.  Consequently  all  men  are  to  be 
judged  according  to  the  principle  of  personal  responsibility, 
which  the  mediatorial  institute,  spread  out  over  them  all, 
is  intended  to  evolve.  Or  all  men  are  to  be  judged  ac- 
cording to  their  works — their  works  performed  according 
to  their  several  ability — their  works  performed  under  the 
mediatorial  reign  of  the  Son  of  God,  whose  official  agents 
every  where  proclaim  divine  "goodness,  forbearance,  and 
long-suffering  kindness,"  as  the  practical  mean  of  producing 
repentance.  Good  works  among  them  all  partake  of  the 
same  general  character;  are  put  into  the  same  general  evan- 
gelic associations,  and  must  lead  to  the  same  general  re- 
sults. The  difference  of  accountability  is  here — They  to 
whom  much  is  given,  must  account  for  much  ;  and  they  to 
whom  little  is  given,  must  account  for  little.  And  in  that 
hour — can  you  deny  it — the  uncircumcision  may  judge  the 
circumcision  ;  the  unbaptized  may  judge  the  baptized.  So- 
dom and   Gomorrah   may  appear  against  Jerusalem — the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  Ill 

queen  of  Sheba  against  the  auditors  of  the  Son  of  God — 
the  despised  jews  against  haughty  and  supercilious  chris- 
tians— the  unlearned  against  the  learned — and  the  noiseless 
against  the  busy  and  the  boastful.  The  dishonoured  Sa- 
viour may  say — "  If  I  had  not  spoken  unto  you,  ye  had  not 
had  sin  ;  but  now  ye  have  no  cloak  for  your  sin."  They 
who  have  done  good,  whether  jew  or  gentile,  shall  go  into 
everlasting  life.  They  who  have  done  evil,  whether  jew 
or  gentile,  shall  be  driven  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord 
and  from  the  glory  of  his  power.  You  understand  all  this. 
No  impenetrable  mystery  hides  from  you  the  principles  of 
judgment,  when  the  Mediator  shall  appear  to  try  men  by  the 
gospel  ;  and  when  the  fruits  of  righteousness  may  be  in 
some  thirty,  in  some  sixty,  and  in  some  an  hundred  fold. 

4.  Among  such  classes  of  human  beings,  as  the  questions 
under  consideration  contemplate,  much  is  not  required,  be- 
cause much  has  not  been  given.  The  gospel  is  the  dis- 
tribution of  gifts  ;  but  gifts  are  bestowed  on  every  man 
according  to  his  several  ability.  How  much  ability  may 
these  deteriorated  generations  be  supposed  to  possess?  Not 
much  it  will  be  replied.  In  the  distribution  of  the  Master's 
"goods,"  even  when  "a  willing  mind"  is  evinced,  would 
he  give  ten  talents,  when  only  one  could  be  employed  ? 
Listen  to  him  addressing  himself  to  the  multitudes  in  para- 
bles, because  that  unto  them  it  had  not  been  given  to  know 
the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  How  differently 
he  treated  the  disciples,  to  whom  the  higher  privilege  had 
been  granted  !  And  yet  he  could  not  tell  even  to  them  all 
he  had  to  say,  because  they  were  not  able  to  bear  it. 

The  history  of  the  Messiah's  ministry  is  a  beautiful  ex- 
hibition of  the  divine  providence  to  nations.  Let  us  trace 
it.  The  jews  had  substituted  the  traditions  of  men  for  the 
commandments  of  God;  and  proffered  the  "  tithe  of  mint, 
anise,  and  cummin,"  in  room  of  "judgment,  mercy  and 
faith."  What  a  deterioration  was  here  !  All  society  was 
thrown  into  confusion.     The  instructor  was  a  mere  novice, 


11-2  LECTURES  ON 

living  on  the  thoughts  of  other  ages — or  he  was  not  "  apt 
to  teach  ;"  and  was  easily  confounded  by  a  quotation  from 
the  scriptures,  having  never  apprehended  the  elemental 
principles  of  the  divine  government.  The  ruler  was  a 
mere  politician  instead  of  being  a  moralist — the  child  of 
intrigue  instead  of  the  bold,  candid  and  dignified  champion 
of  truth — the  creature  of  hereditary  prejudice,  instead  of 
the  close,  accurate  and  prayerful  student — the  metaphysi- 
cal blunderer,  instead  of  the  biblical  monitor — or  the  agent 
of  party  plots,  cowering  to  interested  leaders,  instead  of  co- 
veting the  plenitude  of  grace,  or  being  anxious  to  possess 
ministerial  gifts.  Among  these  the  Saviour  could  find  no 
official  helpers,  nor  obtain  any  thing  for  himself,  save  pover- 
ty, ignominy  and  death.  A  few  men  of  moral  worth  he 
found  at  the  seaside,  or  sitting  at  the  receipt  of  custom,  or 
attendant  on  the  declining  ministry  of  his  forerunner.  See 
"this  mustard  seed" — the  smallest  among  seeds!  Who 
could  have  anticipated  the  result?  But  God  sees  not  as  man 
sees. 

In  connexion  with  this  history,  we  can  hardly  fail  to  re- 
collect the  young  man  whom  Jesus  loved — the  centurion 
whose  faith  rose  superior  to  any  evangelical  effort  that  had 
been  seen  in  Israel — the  publican  whose  timid  cry  for 
mercy  was  heard  on  high — the  poor  wonran  who  came 
with  her  alabaster  box  of  precious  ointment  to  anoint  the 
sacrificial  lamb  who  was  to  take  away  the  sin  of  the  world — 
the  thief  on  the  cross  breathing  out  his  soul  with  his  first 
prayer  for  everlasting  life.  And  while  we  recollect  these 
affecting  and  lovely  incidents,  we  maybe  constrained  to  ad- 
mit, that  attributes  of  moral  character,  or  instances  of  moral 
fluty,  which  we  have  judged  to  be  small  and  equivocal,  may 
constitute  the  records  for  trial  and  be  remunerated  with 
everlasting  honor,  in  the  day  when  the  great  white  throne 
shall  be  erected,  and  the  books  shall  be  opened.  How  of- 
ten, in  estimating  the  merits  of  the  subject  before  us,  may 
the  sectary  in  his  polemical  zeal  have  mistaken  the  wheat 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  113 

for  the  tares  ?  How  often  has  the  chieftain  in  theological 
enterprise  despised  the  day  of  small  things,  and  overlook- 
ed the  starting  points  of  moral  revolutions  ?  They  were  too 
trifling  to  interest  him ;  for  he  had  forgotten  his  philosophy 
amid  his  sectarian  engagements,  and  misunderstood  the 
bearings  of  moral  principles  or  human  associations.  No 
wonder  that  good  works,  done  before  what  he  calls  conver- 
sion, have  been  considered  by  him  as  lacking  the  essence 
of  virtue,  or  that  our  present  subject  should  have  greatly 
perplexed  him,  "  A  willing  mind"  is  worth  millions  of 
dogmas,  and  is  itself  the  glory  of  regeneration.  God  looks 
upon  the  heart. 

We  have  thus  had  another  opportunity  of  developing  the 
objects  of  the  two  dispensations,  constituted  by  the  election. 
And  certainly  the  sovereign  act  does  not  appear  the  less 
important,  when  viewed  as  social  rather  than  as  individual, 
it  accomplishes  practical  purposes  so  needful  and  dignified. 
Thus  set  forth,  it  involves  none  of  the  difficulties  which, 
on  the  principle  of  individual  interpretation,  it  has  ever  in- 
troduced ;  and  instead  of  embarrassing,  it  very  much  facili- 
tates the  inquiries  of  the  student,  who  would  understand 
the  principles  of  moral  government;  and  it  enables  him  intel- 
ligently to  survey  the  general  providence  under  which  that 
government  is  administered  through  the  world. 

Pursuing  our  general  subject,  we  must  now  turn  to  look 
at  a  different  series  of  divine  transactions.  Possibly  the 
preceding  argument  may  by  many  be  considered  as  de- 
fective, because  no  notice  has  been  taken  of  a  previous 
train  of  scriptural  facts,  which  will  be  urged  as  a  very  clear 
and  decided  evidence  of  personal  election.  I  allude,  as 
you  may  readily  suppose,  to  the  very  brief  sketches  which 
Moses  has  given  us  of  the  antediluvian  age,  in  which  he 
so  distinctly  recognises  the  gons  of  God  as  a  favoured,  and 
perhaps  you  will  say,  an  elect,  class.  Of  course,  the  elec- 
tion must  be  something  else,  or  something  more,  than  a. 
10* 


114  LECTURES  Otf 

mere  appendage  of  the  two  dispensations  consequent  upon 
the  call  of  Abraham. 

I  cannot  deny  that  this  race  of  patriarchal  chiefs  may  be 
Very  appropriately  denominated  "the  elect  of  the  Lord  :" 
but  I  have  no  recollection  of  their  history  ever  having  been 
referred  to,  when  inspired  writers  would  illustrate  the  "  pur- 
pose of  election"  on  which  they  argue  so  freely.  From  the 
argument  advanced  by  the  apostles  in  this  connexion,  the 
advocates  of  a  personal  election  unto  eternal  life  derive 
the  premises  and  technicalities  on  which  they  reason.  Paul 
does  not  allude  to  these  early  transactions  when,  in  his 
epistle  to  the  Romans,  he  endeavors  to  rectify  the  false  the- 
ology of  the  jews.  It  was  this  "  purpose  of  election,"  as 
giving  occasion  to  the  long  and  interesting  debate,  which 
new  testament  theologues  have  protracted  to  the  present 
hour,  which  I  particularly  contemplated  in  the  preceding 
lecture ;  and  I  was  induced  so  to  treat  the  subject  by  the 
form  of  discussion  adopted  in  the  scriptures  themselves. 
Still  no  good  reason  can  be  assigned,  why  these  prior  facts 
should  not  be  explained,  both  for  their  own  sake,  and  on 
account  of  the  general  subject.  Let  us  turn  to  them — but 
you  must  allow  me  to  choose  my  own  mode  of  illustration. 

When  Paul  would  set  forth  before  his  countrymen  the 
peculiar  glory  of  his  Lord,  you  remember  that  he  denomi- 
nates him  the  Heir  of  all  things.  In  proving  the  accuracy 
of  this  view,  he  quotes  a  call  made  by  Jehovah  upon  the 
angels  (the  Elohim)  to  worship  the  Heir.  He  introduces 
this  quotation  in  this  singular  manner: — "  When  he  bring- 
ethiiiTHE  first-begotten  into  the  world,  he  saith,  "let  all 
the  angels  of  God  worship  him."*  The  First-begotten  and  the 
Heir  are  the  same  individual ;  and  the  legislative  provision, 
which  appropriates  these  technicalities  to  him,  constitutes 
him  the  Heir  because  he  is  the^First-born — and  why  ?  What 
is  the  reason  of  the  statute  ?  What  object  is  gained  ? 

To  answer  these  questions  you  must  trace  the  matter  af- 
*Heb.ch.l. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  115 

ter  which  we  inquire  to  its  origin*  In  such  a  research  you 
will  be  irresistibly  led  to  the  transactions  which  transpired 
before  the  cherubim,  when  the  controversy  between  Cain 
and  Abel  was  brought  up  for  divine  adjudication.  In  pon- 
dering over  the  records  of  this  early  "cause"  and  its  im- 
portant decision,  your  minds  must  promptly  fasten  on  this 
peculiar  remark  of  the  divine  judge — "  If  thou  doestwell 
shalt  thou  not  be  accepted  ? — And  unto  thee  shall  be  his 
desire,  and  thou  shalt  rule  over  him"*  What,  you  ask, 
is  implied  in  this  rule  ? 

Going  back  still  farther,  and  reading  over  the  constitution 
of  society,  which  was  given  immediately  after  the  fall,  we 
find  that  the  mediatorial  Prince  makes  a  similar  remark  to 
Eve. — "Thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall 
rule  over  thee."  When  long  after,  Paul  would  communi- 
cate the  things  he  had  received  of  the  Lord,  and  would 
state  the  general  provisions  of  the  constitution  of  human 
society,  with  which  that  of  the  new  testament  church 
should  not  interfere,  he  says — "  I  would  have  you  know 
that  the  Head  of  every  man  is  Christ;  and  the  Head  of 
the  woman  is  the  man,  and  the  Head  of  Christ  is  God. — 
The  man  is  the  image  and  glory  of  God ;  but  the  woman 
is  the  glory  of  the  man."f  Again  he  sa}'s — ",  Let  the  wo- 
man learn  in  silence  with  all  subjection.  But  I  suffer  not 
a  woman  to  teach,  nor  to  usurp  authority  over  the  man,  but 
to  be  in  silence.  For  Adam  was  first  formed,  then  Eve."+ 
These  comments  sufficiently  explain  what  Jehovah  meant 
by  rule  in  his  address  to  Eve  :  and  attach  no  small  im- 
portance to  the  fact  of  Adam's  being  first  formed,  in  as- 
signing the  reason  of  the  constitutional  provision. 

Transfer  these  comments  to  the  second  case,  and  the 
rule,  which  God  speaks  of  in  his  address  to  Cain,  is  merely 
that  official  prerogrative  or  headship  which  constitutes  those 
who  are  invested  therewith  "the  image  of  God"  for  cer- 
tain purposes,  and  for  the  time  being.     It  is  then  an  ar- 

*  Gen.  iv.  3—7,  1 *  Cor.  xi.  3—7.  %  *  Tim.  ii.  11—13. 


116  LECTURES  DM 

rangement,  out  of  which,  as  an  ordinance  of  God,  civil 
government  arises.  A  preference  is  given,  but  for  a  natural 
reason — Cain  was  first  born.  An  election  may  then  be 
asserted,  but  it  is  neither  arbitrary,  nor  is  unto  eternal  life : 
for,  on  the  one  hand,  the  reason  of  the  preference  of  one 
individual  to  another  is  assigned;  and  on  the  other,  the 
object  of  the  institution  itself  is  declared  to  be  official. 
The  political  prerogative  is  the  birth-rigrht  of  the  first-born. 
In  process  of  time,  when  the  exercise  of  that  prerogative 
would  become  burdensome  or  expensive,  the  family  in- 
heritance would  accompany  the  official  honors,  because 
the  rule  would  be  a  common  benefit.  Hence  Christ,  as  the 
First-begotten,  is  Heir  of  all  things  : — all  things  in  which 
the  family  of  man  have  a  common  interest. — Was  not  the 
peculiar  manner  of  his  birth  specifically  intended  to  illus- 
trate his  official  prerogative  ?  As  first-bor>~  he  would  be 
entitled  to  rule  :  and  as  the  first-born  of  every  creature, 
he  rules  over  all. 

According  to  this  view,  election  is  still  an  official  affair, 
■'and  the  purpose  of  election."  which  came  in  after- 
wards as  an  appendage  of  the  two  dispensations,  was  onlv 
a  modification  of  the  original  principles  of  government. — 
Then  other  children,  besides  the  first-begotten,  did  not 
cease  to  be  members  of  the  family ;  but  were  members  of 
the  family  under  rule,  and  had  a  common  interest  in  the 
rnment  under  which  they  were  placed.  And  when 
Christ  is  made  the  First-begotten  among  men,  or  the  Heir 
of  all  things,  all  other  human  beings  are  children  of  God. 
None  of  them,  by  such  a  political  transaction  which  con- 
stitutes the  Son  of  God  the  Head  of  every  man,  loses 
his  membership  in  the  family.  All  have  a  common 
interest  in  the  mediatorial  government ;  and  the  discus- 
sion which  controverts  that  common  interest,  and  assert? 
that  "  redemption  is  particular,'"  that  Christ  did  not  die 
for  all  men,  or  that  his  righteousness  is  not  intended  for 
all,  is  both  puerile  and  anti-scriptural.     To  say   that   he 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  117 

died  for  the  elect  alone,  is  to  proclaim  that  he  died  only 
for  official  men ;  and  is  to  allot  the  bread  as  well  as  the 
cup  in  the  Lord's  supper,  and  the  things  signified  thereby, 
to  the  priesthood.  Who  is  prepared  for  such  a  result  ?  The 
priesthood  alone  to  be  saved ! 

In  consistency  with  the  principle  of  exposition  thus  ad- 
vanced, the  sanctification  of  Jacob's  seed  occurs,  the  scrip- 
tures themselves  being  judge.  For  when  Moses  was  sent  to 
Pharoah,  the  message  he  delivered  was  couched  in  this  lan- 
guage:— "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Israel  is  my  son,  even  my 
first-born  : — Let  my  Son  go  that  he  may  serve  me.  And 
if  thou  refuse  to  let  him  go,  behold  I  will  slay  thy  son, 
even  thy  first-born."  L  e.  In  the  proceedings  on  which 
Jehovah  entered,  when  he  consecrated  the  children  of 
Abraham,  the  Israelites  stood,  to  the  rest  of  the  nations,  in 
a  relation  correspondent  with  that  in  which  the  first-born 
stood  to  the  other  members  of  his  family.  It  was  alto- 
gether official.  And  if  the  gentiles  are  brought  in  now, 
they  occupy  the  same  official  position — like  Seth,  taking 
the  place  from  which  Cain  by  transgression  fell.  And  as 
Seth  bore  the  image  and  likeness  of  his  father,  officially 
considered,  so  now  the  gentile  church  has  been  conformed 
to  the  image  of  the  Son  of  God,  according  to  the  predes- 
tination, or  "the  purpose  of  election,"  winch  Jehovah  had 
formed. 

In  confirmation  of  the  preceding  view,  it  deserves  to  be 
further  remarked — 

1.  That  Cain  was  excluded  from  his  official  station,  and 
forfeited  his  birth-right  or  political  pre-eminence,  not  under 
any  arbitrary  proceeding,  but  because  he  did  not  do  well. 

2.  That  both  Peter  and  Jude  speak  of  these  sons  of  God 
as  angels  or  messengers,  thus  substituting  one  official 
term  for  another. 

3.  That  these  apostles,  instead  of  describing  these  par- 
triarcal  chiefs  as  elected  unto  eternal  life,  speak  of  them  as 
having  "  sinned" — as  cast  down  to  hell — as  delivered  into 


113  LECTURES  OX 

chains  of  darkness,  to  be  reserved  unto  judgment,  because 
they  kept  not  their  first  principality,  but  left  their  own 
habitation,  and  went  after  strange  flesh. 

4.  These  apostles  also  take  occasion,  from  the  history  of 
this  early  apostacy,  to  warn  the  christian  church  against 
like  official  treason,  perpetrated  by  men  who  are  called 
false  teachers. 

I  do  not  know  that  these  early  political  arrangements  re- 
quire any  further  elucidation,  other  than  to  observe  that 
11  the  purpose  of  election,"  which  created  the  two  dispen- 
sations, is  only  temporal  ;  and  that,  when  it  runs  out, 
human  things  shall  return  to  their  original  organization. 
The  millennium  is  described  to  us  as  a  political  state  of 
universal  righteousness  and  universal  knowledge,  when  so- 
ciety shall  not  need,  but  shall  be  delivered  from,  the  com- 
plicated machinery  under  which  we  now  live.  In  such 
an  issue,  characterized  by  so  much  simplicity  in  official 
provisions  and  so  much  vigor  of  individual  conscience,  I 
imagine  that  our  political  and  ecclesiastical  contests  shall 
ere  long  be  wound  up.  Not  that  I  suppose  there  will  then 
be  no  government — for  Chrijt  will  still  be  the  Head  of 
every  man — the  man  will  be  the  Head  of  the  woman — God 
will  be  the  Head  of  Christ — and  natcre  will  honor  her 
first-born.  It  will  be  the  reign  of  righteousness.  Nor 
yet  that  I  suppose  that  church  and  state  will  be  united,  ac- 
cording to  the  present  import  of  those  technical  terms. — 
For  as  the  church,  properly  so  called,  is  formed  by  "the 
purpose  of  election,"  when  that  purpose  shall  be  accom- 
plished, the  particular  organization  which  it  creates  shall 
be  done  away.  Amid  the  preliminary  revolutions  which  shall 
"  overturn,  and  overturn,  and  overturn,  until  he  shall  come 
whose  right  it  is,"  and  through  the  present  contests  in 
which  mankind  have  so  determinedly  arraigned  both  their 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  rulers,  may  the  Prince  of  Peace 
graciously  and  gloriously  preside. 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  119 

Thus  far  then,  or  throughout  the  various  facts  and  the 
different  periods  which  the  discussion  of  election  has  led 
us  to  review,  Jehovah  himself  appears  to  be  the  great  au- 
thor of  our  social  institutions.  Civil  government  is  esta- 
blished by  his  own  ordinance,  and  the  two  dispensations 
constitute  what  has  been  called  "  the  mystery  of  his  will." 
As  Paul  would  say,  "  every  house" — using  the  term  house 
in  a  metaphorical  sense,  or  to  designate  a  community — 
"  every  house  is  built,  or  every  community  is  framed  by 
some  one."  Moses  was  faithful  in  all  God's  house  or 
church,  when  with  apostolic  authority,  immediately  de- 
rived from  the  great  lawgiver,  he  framed  the  legal  dispen- 
sation. Christ  was  faithful  to  him  that  appointed  him,  and 
as  a  Son  over  his  own  house,  or  in  his  own  church,  when  he 
erected  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  But  he  who  built  all 
things,  or  framed  all  communities,  is  God.  They  derive 
their  existence,  and  all  the  official  powers  incidental  to 
their  appropriate  operations,  directly  from  himself.  None 
but  an  apostle  can  alter  or  modify  them  ;  and  he  must  be 
prompt  to  furnish  the  proof  of  his  heavenly  commission. 
A  reformer  may  call  men  back  to  the  divine  institutions, 
but.  may  frame  no  new  ones.  The  whole  modern  doctrine 
of  voluntary  associations — inasmuch  as,  aiming  at  reforma- 
tion, they  interfere  with  the  ecclesiastical  organization,  is 
entirely  aside  of  scriptural  lawT ;  is  an  assumption  of  the 
divine  prerogative ;  and  ever  ends  in  a  burdensome,  ex- 
pensive and  corrupting  ritual,  which  turns  the  human 
mind  away  from  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel.  Days  and 
weeks,  and  months  and  years,  come  in  under  the  sanction 
of  ecclesiastical  authority,  availing  itself  of  the  morbid 
excitement  which  transient  circumstances  may  create,  and 
dignifying  the  ebullitions  of  undisciplined  feeling  with 
the  lofty  phrases  which  an  intelligent  piety  is  supposed  to 
deserve.  The  very  times  to  which  theologians  so  rever- 
ently refer,  rapidly  and  incautiously  multiplied  the  most 
meager  ceremonies  and  profitless  services,  and  paved  the 


120  LECTURES  ON 

way  for  all  the  absurd  dogmas  and  degrading  forma  of 
the  papal  hierarchy  ;  and  that  too  under  the  pretension  of 
doing  good,  or  of  leading  sinners  to  repent  and  believe. 
Against  such  like  interferences  with  Jehovah's  govern- 
ment, which,  by  substituting  human  institutions  suggested 
by  mere  caprice  or  sectarian  projects,  must  lead  to  similar 
disasters,  and  which,  at  the  present  day,  are  so  common 
and  popular,  the  church  should  enter  her  unanimous  and 
uncompromising  protest. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  urged  that  there  still  remains  a  scrip- 
tural fact,  prior  even  to  the  antediluvian  circumstances  that 
have  been  noticed,  which  is  beyond  the  social  organiza- 
tions of  this  world  ;  and  which  might  be  relied  on  as  dis- 
tinct proof  of  an  individual  election.  Paul,  in  his  instruc- 
tions to  Timothy,  employs  this  singular  address: — "I 
charge  thee  before  God,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  elect  angels,  that  thou  observe  these  things."*  Ga- 
briel and  his  fellows,  it  will  be  said,  have  been  elected, 
while  Lucifer  and  his  wretched  companions  have  been  re- 
jected. The  reprobation  in  this  case,  as  in  all  others,  must 
be  inferred  from  the  intimation  of  an  election.  But  the 
value  of  the  inference  must  entirely  depend  upon  the  in- 
terpretation of  the  terms  elect  angels  ;  and  the  question 
will  be,  whether  those  terms  refer  to  the  personal  condition 
of  angels  as  accountable  to  their  Creator  ?  or  whether  they 
are  the  mere  expression  of  an  official  relation  ?  To  aid  us 
in  answering  these  questions,  the  following  points  should  be 
distinctly  noticed.  The  term  angel  signifies  messenger. — 
The  angels  are  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  a  ministry 
on  account  of  the  heirs  of  salvation. — They  are  called  elo- 
him. — Even  Satan  is  called  the  god  (Elohim)  of  this  world — 
the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air. — In  Eden,  when  con- 
versing with  Eve,  he  seems  to  hold  fast  to  his  forfeited  dig- 
nity, and  to  act  adroitly  the  false  interpreter  of  the  divine 
statute. — On  the  day  when  the  sons  of  God,  another  offi- 

*1  Tim.  v.    21. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  121 

cial  title  applied  to  angels,  came  to  present  themselves  be- 
fore the  Lord,  as  the  fact  is  recorded  in  the  book  of  Job, 
11  Satan  came  also  among  them." — The  power  of  death 
too,  as  he  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning,  is  ascribed 
to  him.  All  these  circumstances  indicate  that  the  term 
elect,  as  applied  to  angels,  is,  as  we  have  shown  it  to  be  in 
every  case  that  has  yet  been  noticed,  purely  official.  No- 
thing therefore  is  made  out  for  the  doctrine  of  a  personal 
election  unto  eternal  life,  by  the  apostle's  charge  to  his  son 
Timothy. 

Once  more.  A  case  still  remains  in  which  this  term  elect 
is  used,  and  in  which  every  one  will  immediately  perceive 
it  to  be  official.  Jehovah,  speaking  by  the  prophet  Isaiah, 
observes  concerning  the  Saviour — '*  Behold  my  servant 
whom  I  uphold,  mine  elect  in  whom  my  souLdelighteth."* 
The  apostle  Peter  utters  the  same  idea,  when  speaking  of 
the  same  glorious  personage,  he  describes  him  as — "  a  liv- 
ing stone,  disallowed  indeed  of  men,  but  chosen  of  God."t 
In  this  peculiar  phraseology  he  used  prophetic  language, 
and  immediately  confirms  his  assertion  by  a  quotation  : — 
"  Behold  I  lay  in  Sion  a  chief  corner  stone,  elect,  pre- 
cious." In  what  sense  is  the  term  elect  applied  to  the 
Redeemer  ?  From  among  whom  has  he  been  elected  ? 
Who,  in  view  of  his  election,  are  the  reprobates  ?  Like  its 
fellow  term — servant — used  by  the  prophet,  is  not  elect 
merely  an  official  epithet  ?  Can  any  one  dispute,  in  rela- 
tion to  this  fact,  the  correctness  of  our  interpretation  of  the 
term  ?  And  if  the  Lord  himself  is  thus  denominated  God's 
elect,  may  not  all  the  official  agents  which  are  employed — 
angels,  prophets,  apostles,  the  saints  under  both  covenants — 
be  with  equal  propriety  so  denominated  ?  Or  if  they  are 
so  denominated,  must  not  the  principle  of  interpretation 
be  the  same  all  round  ?  At  least,  must  not  the  advocates  of 
an  individual  election  unto  eternal  life  show,  why  they 
have  changed  the  principle  of  interpretation  ?  And  more 
*Is.  xlii.  1.  f  1  Pet.  ii.  4. 

Vol.  II.— 11 


1-22  LECTURES  ON 

particularly,  are  they  not  bound  to  assign  a  reason  for  their 
peculiar  exposition,  when  it  is  recollected,  that  the  scrip- 
tures do  not  refer  to  these  cases  so  confidently  quoted, 
when  they  argue  on  "the  purpose  of  election"  involved 
in  "  the  mystery  of  the  divine  will,"  and  out  of  which 
"the  two  covenants"  arose. — We  leave  calvinistic  disci- 
ples to  the  accomplishment  of  their  task,  and  to  the  de- 
fence of  their  favorite  theme,  while  we  shall  return  in  the 
next  lecture  to  the  scriptural  argument. 


LECTURE   XIV. 


Subject  continued — Ishmael  and  Isaac — Esau  and  Jacob — 
Type  of  the  Potter — Pharaoh — General  reasoning — The 
oath. 

Resuming  the  general  subject  of  discussion,  on  the  doc- 
trine of  election,  as  it  is  sketched  on  the  scriptural  page, 
I  must  now  proceed  to  call  up  to  your  consideration,  sundry 
instances  which  appear  to  be  individual  in  their  character ; 
but  which,  after  all,  every  one  must  perceive  to  be  purely 
political. 

Certain  persons,  whom  God  called  into  his  service,  and 
whom  he  consecrated  for  special  purposes,  are  mentioned 
with  peculiar  honor;  while  others  are  reprobated  as  openly 
wicked  and  incorrigibly  corrupt.  But  it  is  evident  that 
this  second  view  of  election,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  is 
perfectly  analagous  to  the  first,  and  is  also  official.  Moses, 
Aaron,  Levi,  Judah,  Saul,  David,  the  prophets,  the  apostles, 
and  many  others,  were  all  respectively  chosen.  Jehovah 
had  selected  them  to  accomplish  some  particular  end  ;  but 
their  election  did  not  secure  their  everlasting  life.  How- 
ever highly  they  might  have  been  distinguished  by  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  123 

special  commission  put  into  their  hands,  yet  it  was  a  very 
possible  case  for  them  to  fail ;  and,  instead  of  securing  eter- 
nal glory,  to  incur  official  disgrace,  and  serve  as  a  beacon 
to  all  coming  generations. 

The  history  of  Balaam,  the  suicide  of  Judas  rendered 
desperate  by  his  own  remorse,  and  the  persevering  efforts 
of  Paul  using  every  wise  and  well  timed  precaution,  lest, 
after  having  preached  the  gospel  to  others  he  should  be  a 
cast  away  himself,  amply  elucidate  this  fact.  All  such 
cases  of  election  were  acts  of  the  Mediator,  exercising 
that  sovereignty  which  belonged  to  him  as  Lord  of  the  uni- 
verse, or  using  the  prerogative  of  a  ruler.  So  an  earthly 
sovereign  would  act.  Such  patronage  is  attached  to  his 
official  station  ;  and  he  employs  it  accordingly,  ever  using 
it  for  the  good  of  his  subjects,  and  like  a  father  to  his  peo- 
ple, if  he  be  a  righteous  ruler.  He  puts  into  commission 
those  whom  he  judges  to  be  best  qualified  to  manage  the 
trust  to  be  confided,  and  whose  services  he  can  obtain  ;  or 
he  aims  to  achieve  the  greatest  amount  of  good.  And 
while  he  thus  acts,  he  secures  the  confidence  and  win* 
the  applause  of  all  honorable  men. 

In  the  capacity  of  a  wise  and  righteous  sovereign,  the 
Son  of  God  presides  over  the  world  and  its  concerns.  In 
managing  the  vast  variety  of  interests  committed  to  him, 
he  chooses  his  own  servants,  or  official  agents.  Nor  is 
there  any  thing  capricious  or  oppressive,  invidious  or  inju- 
rious, in  the  choice  he  makes.  He  never  acts  without 
reason  ;  nor  without  a  reason,  which  fairly  and  fully  justi- 
fies his  proceedings  to  all  who  are  concerned.  Those  who 
are  elected  are  highly  honored,  but  their  responsibilities 
are  increased.  They  are  not  introduced  into  a  sinecure, 
where  nothing  is  to  be  done  ;  but  they  are  called  to  action, 
which  requires  the  full  exercise  of  all  their  talents.  And 
those  who  are  not  chosen  are  not  injured  :  they  are  not  de- 
prived of  any  of  their  rights,  they  are  not  reprobated,  but 
are  left  in  the  free  and  unrestrained  enjoyment  of  their 


124  LECTURES  Otf 

privileges  ;  and  they  have  no  ground  to  take  offence,  or  io 
talk  of  partialities  which  are  cherished  to  their  detriment* 
In  fact,  they  who  are  elected  are  servants  to  those  who  are 
not  elected. 

Let  us  look  at  the  particular  examples  referred  to,  which 
will  fully  illustrate  my  meaning;  and  which  may,  per- 
haps, need  some  explanation  on  their  own  account.  God 
chose  Isaac  in  preference  to  Ishmael : — had  he  any  reason 
for  so  doing?  Yes,  replies  an  apostle.  These  "  things  are 
an  allegory ;  for  these  are  the  two  covenants ;  the  one  from 
mount  Sinai,  which  gendereth  to  bondage.'"' — But  we  who 
live  under  the  christian  dispensation,  "  are,  as  Isaac  was, 
the  children  of  promise;"  or,  we  are  "  children  of  the 
free  f — are  not  in  bondage,  but  are  heirs  of  liberty.  Thus 
God,  in  the  election  of  Isaac,  while  Ishmael  was  passed  by, 
gave,  long  before  their  introduction,  an  emblem  of  the  two 
covenants,  and  a  view  of  their  respective  characters.  Has 
not  Paul  assigned  a  sufficient  reason  in  this  case  ? — Neither 
was  there  any  violence  offered  to  the  parties  concerned., 
agreeably  to  the  ideas  which  then  prevailed,  or  the  distinc- 
tions in  society  which  then  existed.  For  Ishmael  was  the 
son  of  the  bond- woman,  and  Isaac  was  the  son  of  the  free 
woman  :  and  the  respective  circumstances  of  the  two  in- 
dividuals, furnished  a  fair  opportunity  to  make  the  allego- 
rical representation. 

Afterward  Jacob  was  chosen  in  preference  to  Esau  ;  not 
personally,  but  nationally.  While  they  were  yet  unborn, 
and  when  they  had  done  neither  good  nor  evil,  their  mother 
was  informed,  that  "the  one  people  should  be  stronger 
than  the  other  people,  and  that  the  elder  should  serve  the 
younger." 

Here,  by  the  way,  we  may  remark,  the  election  contem- 
plated had  not  the  most  distant  reference  to  Adam's  sin, 
according  to  the  connexions  in  which  the  fact  must  stand, 
if  the  popular  doctrine  be  admitted  ;  for  then,  the  apostle's 
remark — that  the    children  had  personally  done  neither 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  125 

good  nor  evil — would  be  altogether  superfluous ;  and  his 
further  explanation — that  the  purpose  of  God  according 
to  election  might  stand,  not  of  works,  but  of  him  that  call- 
eth — would  not  reach  the  case  ;  because  the  choice  made 
is  resolved  into  the  simple  purpose  of  God — it  is  of  him 
that  calleth:  and  because,  that  when  the  objection,  which 
charges  partiality  or  unrighteousness  on  the  government  of 
God,  is  met,  the  apostle  never  even  hints  at  Adam's  sin, 
which  yet,  according  to  the  doctrine  maintained  on  the 
subject,  would  have  effectually  justified  the  whole  trans- 
action. 

But  to  return  ;  God  told  Rebecca  that  the  elder  should 
serve  the  younger.  And  why  ?  Can  any  reason  be  assign- 
ed for  so  singular  a  transaction  ?  In  the  preceding  part  of 
the  chapter,  where  the  statement  is  made,*  Paul  had  de- 
tailed the  privileges  of  Jacob's  descendants ;  but  he  had 
done  this  with  great  heaviness  of  heart,  because  he  foresaw 
the  sore  judgments  which  should  soon  overtake  them  : 
and  he  was  just  about  entering  on  the  painful  subject.  In 
the  outset  of  his  discussion  he  meets  an  objection  which 
might  embarrass  his  argument ;  and,  apparently  keeping 
away  from  the  distressing  subject  as  long  as  possible,  or 
designing  to  open  it  up  gradually  to  his  brethren,  he  first 
meets  that  objection.  It  is  this.  If  the  children  of  Israel 
be  cast  off,  the  promise  God  gave  to  Abraham  would  be 
violated: — "The  word  of  God  hath  then  taken  none  ef- 
fect" is  his  language.  Now,  as  God's  promise  cannot  be 
broken,  it  follows  that  the  children  of  Israel  cannot  be  cast 
off.  The  objection  had  its  weight,  but  was  not  unanswera- 
ble.    He  then  proceeds  to  reply  to  it. 

"  They,"  said  he,  "are  not  all  Israel,  who  are  of  Israel : 
neither  because  they  are  the  seed  of  Abraham,  are  they  all 
children."  You  remember,  he  continues,  that  the  promise 
itself  was — "In  Isaac  thy  seed  shall  be  called;"  but  Ish- 
mael  was  of  the  seed  of  Abraham.     The  casting  out  of 

*  Rom.  ix. 
11* 


J*26  LECTURES  ON 

Ishmael  did  not  make  void  the  promise.  And  not  only 
this,  but  you  also  remember  the  case  of  Esau  and  Jacob ; 
of  whom  God  had  said,  "  Jacob  have  I  loved,  but  Esau 
have  I  hated."  Now  Esau  was  of  the  seed  of  Abraham, 
and  yet  was  rejected.  The  rejection  of  Esau  does  not 
violate  God's  promise.  In  other  words,  the  casting  away 
of  Abraham's  literal  posterity  will  not  destroy  the  cove- 
nant made  with  him.  Your  standing,  therefore,  as  God's 
peculiar  people,  is  not  secured  by  the  consideration,  that 
you  are  Abraham's  literal  seed. 

The  case  of  Esau  and  Jacob  was  intended  to  explain  the 
then  present  condition  of  the  jews ;  or,  like  that  of  Ish- 
mael and  Isaac,  had  been  a  provision  for  the  coming  times 
— an  allegory,  whose  import  subsequent  events  would  un- 
fold. And  to  make  this  provision  was  the  simple  reason  of 
the  election  in  both  cases.  Adam's  sin  had  nothing  to  do 
with  either  the  one  or  the  other. 

Accordingly,  when  the  purpose  of  election,  which  had 
been  announced  to  Rebecca,  was  executed,  no  outward 
violence  was  done  to  the  two  brothers.  Esau  sold  his  birth- 
right, and  behaved  himself  as  indifferently  as  Ishmael  had 
done.  Jacob,  it  is  true,  appears  to  have  acted  very  disin- 
genuously ;  and  his  mother  deported  herself  as  strangely 
as  either.  But  the  providence  of  God,  declining  to  interfere 
with  the  free  agency  of  his  creatures,  must  take  mankind 
as  he  rinds  them,  and  as  he  certainly  foreknows  they  will 
be  ;  nor  can  he  do  otherwise,  unless  he  shall  directly  in- 
terfere with,  and  effectually  control,  their  personal  volitions. 
He  must,  therefore,  act  on  his  own  foreknowledge. 

Further,  the  apostle,  in  stating  the  case,  uses  the  pro- 
phet's language  instead  of  his  own ;  and  thus  he  eluded 
any  personal  reproach  from  the  jews,  while  he  established 
his  argument  by  authority  which  they  could  not  dispute : — 
"Jacob  have  I  loved,  and  Esau  have  I  hated."  But  per- 
haps the  prophet  did  not  mean  that  which  the  apostle  en- 
deavored to  make  him  speak.     The  jews,  consequently 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  1-27 

must,  as  fair  reasoners,  either  give  up  the  point  in  debate, 
or  go  back  and  inquire  what  the  prophet  did  report.  Per- 
haps our  own  argument  may  be  thought  defective  ;  let  us 
then  go  to  the  witness  himself.  Malachi's  language  is  as 
follows — "I  have  loved  you,  saith  the  Lord.  Yet  ye  say, 
wherein  hast  thou  loved  us  ?  Was  not  Esau  Jacob's  bro- 
ther ?  saith  the  Lord  :  yet  I  loved  Jacob,  and  I  hated  Esau, 
and  laid  his  mountains  and  his  heritage  waste  for  the  dra- 
gons of  the  wilderness."  What  exhibition  of  God's  hatred 
to  Esau  is  here  furnished  ?  None  that  we  can  see,  saving 
that  the  Lord  says — "  I  laid  his  mountains  and  his  heritage 
waste  for  the  dragons  of  the  wilderness."  And  what  proof 
have  we  of  God's  love  to  Jacob?  None  that  we  can  see, 
saving  that  he  did  not  deal  with  him  as  he  did  with  Esau ; 
i.  e.  he  did  not  lay  his  mountains  and  his  heritage  waste 
for  the  dragons  of  the  wilderness ;  but  gave  him  a  goodly 
heritage  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  This  view  of  the  trans- 
action precisely  corresponds  with  our  general  argument ; 
and,  instead  of  describing  an  election  of  individuals  unto 
eternal  life,  asserts  an  election  of  a  different  character  alto- 
gether ;  an  election  which  is  to  subserve  the  general  pur- 
poses of  the  mediatorial  government,  as  presiding  over  the 
whole  world  ;  an  election  purely  national,  according  to  the 
annunciation  to  Rebecca,  when  "the  Lord  said  to  her — 
Two  nations  are  in  thy  womb  and  two  manner  of  peo- 
ple shall  be  separated  from  thy  bowels,  and  the  one  people 
shall  be  stronger  than  the  other  people  ;  and  the  elder 
(people)  shall  serve  the  younger  (people)."* 

The  account  given  by  Malachi  is  the  very  same  given 
by  Moses,  when  he  records  the  whole  matter  with  regard 
to  the  two  brothers.  Isaac  said  to  Jacob — "God  give  thee 
of  the  dew  of  heaven,  and  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and 
plenty  of  corn  and  wine :  let  people  serve  thee,  and  na- 
tions bow  down  to  thee  :  be  lord  over  thy  brethren,  and  let 
thy  mother's  sons  bow  down  to  thee  :  cursed  be  every  one 

*  Gen,  xxv.  23. 


128  LECTURES  ON 

that  curseth  thee,  and  blessed  be  he  that  blesseth  thee." 
Afterwards  Esau  came,  concerning  whom  Paul  remarks — 
"  for  one  morsel  of  meat  he  sold  his  birth-right;  for  ye 
know  that  afterwards,  when  he  would  have  inherited  the 
blessing,  he  was  rejected  ;  for  he  found  no  place  for  repen- 
tance, though  he  sought  it  carefully  with  tears."  What 
blessing  did  he  so  ardently  covet  ?  When  did  he  so  bitterly 
weep  ?  Who  rejected  him,  and  would  not  repent,  or  recall 
what  he  had  done  ?  Look  at  Esau  standing;  in  his  father's 
presence.  There  he  wreeps ;  there  he  reproaches  Jacob  ; 
and  asks  his  father  to  repent,  and  recall  the  blessing 
wrhich  had  been  given  to  Jacob.  Isaac  did  not  repent ;  he 
did  not  recall  what  he  had  done  ;  but,  while  he  blessed  the 
humble  and  weeping  suppliant,  he  left  Jacob  in  full  pos- 
session of  the  birth-right,  and  all  its  privileges.  It  is  to 
this  transaction,  whose  results  so  exactly  correspond  with 
God's  purpose  of  election — the  elder  shall  serve  the  young- 
er— that  both  the  prophet  and  the  apostle  refer.  This  case 
of  election,  therefore,  stands  forth  before  us  a  pure  official 
matter,  and  totally  different  from  what  it  is  often  represent- 
ed to  be. 

Who  can  object  to  the  preceding  exposition?  The  Eter- 
nal must  have,  so  to  term  them,  such  political  rights  and 
powers,  whether  the  view  of  election  which  we  controvert, 
be  true  or  false.  To  object  to  them,  it  appears  to  me,  would 
defraud  him  of  his  prerogative,  and  disrobe  faim  of  his  su- 
premacy ;  and  what  then  should  become  of  the  doctrine  of 
divine  sovereignty!  An  earthly  potentate,  thus  treated, 
wrould  be  deprived  of  all  legislative  power  and  executive 
patronage ;  wTould  be  in  truth  converted  into  a  mere  royal 
pageant,  whom  no  political  party  could  respect ;  and  all 
government  must  be  at  an  end,  or  the  prerogative  must  be 
transferred  to  ministerial  hands.  And  can  any  one  so  re- 
gard the  King  of  glory?  To  object,  seems  to  me  to  im- 
peach his  wisdom  and  integrity,  and  in  effect  to  say — "why 
doth  he  then  find  fault,  for  who  hath  resisted  his  will?" 


MOItAL  GOVERNMENT.  129 

Then  we  retire,  leaving  Paul  as  the  respondent.  "  Nay 
but  O  man)"  he  rejoins,  "  who  art  thou  that  repliest  against 
God  ?  Shall  the  thing  formed  say  to  him  that  formed  it,  why 
hast  thou  made  me  thus  ?  Hath  not  the  potter  power  over 
the  clay,  of  the  same  lump,  to  make  one  vessel  unto  honor, 
and  another  unto  dishonor?"  The  objection  is  met  and 
answered. 

The  apostle,  however,  in  replying  to  the  objection,  has 
made  use  of  an  analogical  case,  which  has  been,  and  very 
often  is  erroneously  interpreted.  He  is  supposed  to  speak 
of  the  glory  of  God,  abstractedly  considered,  and  without 
any  reference  to  the  good  of  the  creature — a  moral  view 
which  certainly  ought  not  to  find  any  place  in  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel;  seeing  that  the  gospel,  while  it  proclaims 
glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  yet,  at  the  same  time  proclaims 
peace  on  earth  and  good  will  towards  men.  But  the  case 
which  he  states  calls  for  no  such  interpretation.  The  whole 
matter  is  a  quotation,  and  is  taken  from  the  writings  of  Jer- 
emiah ;  to  which  we  must  turn  in  order  to  ascertain  its  true 
design.  Jeremiah  was  told  by  the  Lord  to  go  down  to  the 
potter's  house.  He  went  as  he  was  commanded,  and  the 
potter  "  wrought  a  work  upon  the  wheels.  And  the  vessel 
that  he  made  of  clay  was  marred  in  the  hands  of  the  pot- 
ter: so  he  made  it  again  another  vessel,  as  seemed  good  to 
the  potter  to  make  it."  The  clay  was  then  so  marred  that 
the  potter  made  another  vessel  of  it  than  he  at  first  intend- 
ed. This  circumstance  forms  the  turning  point  of  the  al- 
lusion. And  though  a  sort  of  sovereignty  is  predicated  of 
the  potter,  evidently  he  is  represented  as  making  the  best 
of  the  disappointment  he  had  met  with. 

The  Lord  himself  applies  the  symbol,  to  which  he  had 
called  the  prophet's  attention. — "  O  house  of  Israel,  can- 
not I  do  with  you  as  this  potter?  saith  the  Lord.  Behold, 
as  the  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  so  are  ye  in  my  hands, 
O  house  of  Israel.  At  what  instant  I  shall  speak  concern- 
ing a  nation,  and  concerning  a  kingdom,  to  pluck  up  and 


130  LECTURES  OX 

to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy  it ;  if  that  nation  against  whom 
I  have  pronounced,  turn  from  their  evil,  I  will  repent  of 
the  evil  that  I  thought  to  do  unto  them.  And  at  what  in- 
stant I  shall  speak  concerning  a  nation,  and  concerning  a 
kingdom,  to  build  and  to  plant  it ;  if  it  do  evil  in  my  sight 
that  it  obey  not  my  voice,  then  I  will  repent  of  the  good 
wherewith  I  said  I  would  benefit  them."  Here  Jehovah 
himself  makes  the  doings  of  the  potter  symbolical  of  his  own 
transactions  among  the  nations,  of  whom  eternal  life  is 
not  to  be  predicated ;  and  declares  his  intentions  concerning 
them  to  be  modified,  according  as  they  shall,  or  shall  not, 
do  evil: — even  as  the  potter  makes  another  vessel,  when 
the  clay  is  marred  in  his  hands.  Accordingly  thus  the 
apostle  applies  the  simile.  "  What,"  says  he,  "if  God,  will- 
ing to  show  his  wrath,  endured  with  much  long-suffering, 
the  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction!"  Vessels  of 
wrath — or  clay  marred  in  the  hands  of  the  potter — nations 
that  had  done  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord — the  Jewish  na- 
tion, who  were  now  about  to  be  cast  off  for  their  unbelief! 
The  analogy  has  nothing  to  do  with  an  election  of  indivi- 
duals unto  eternal  life ;  nay,  even  while  the  nation  was  re- 
jected, a  remnant  was  saved,  or  incorporated,  for  the  fa- 
ther's sake,  in  the  new  dispensation,  of  whom  eternal  life, 
unless  it  be  in  an  official  sense,  is  not  at  any  time  asserted. 
Would  you  award  eternal  life  to  them  for  Abraham's  sake  ? 
The  case  of  Pharaoh  has  often  been  an  offence,  or  a  stum- 
bling-block, in  the  way  of  an  inquirer  after  truth.  He  has 
been  led  to  imagine,  that  God  did  actually  harden  Pharaoh's 
heart ;  or,  by  some  direct  agency,  did  prevent  him  from 
obeying  the  divine  command,  delivered  by  Moses;  and  that 
too,  on  purpose  to  destroy  him ;  or  to  compel  him,  under  a 
most  miserable  infatuation,  to  rush  presumptuously  on  his 
fate.  A  mere  sectarian,  ignorant  of  the  purity  and  lofti- 
ness of  moral  principle,  and  repulsing  every  fair  and  con- 
sistent explanation,  might  strenuously  defend  such  a  theo- 
cratic view ;  or  he  might  pertinaciously  assert,  as  Jehovah 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  131 

declares  that  the  jews  did  assert — ye  "  come  and  stand  be- 
fore me  in  this  house,  which  is  called  by  my  name,  and 
say,  we  are  delivered  to  do  all  these  abominations."  But 
from  such  a  fabulous  and  harsh  commentary  on  the  divine 
proceedings,  or  from  such  a  defence  of  the  flagitious  con- 
duct of  men,  the  human  mind,  if  it  has  not  been  spoiled 
through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit  after  the  tradition  of 
men,  instinctively  revolts.  The  question,  however,  is — 
how  can  we  escape  from  the  interpretation  when  we  look 
at  the  terms  ?  The  theologian  is  perplexed  ;  and  the  infi- 
del feels  himself  entitled  to  scoff  at  divine  revelation.  But 
manifestly  the  whole  case  is  covered  by  the  principles  de- 
veloped in  the  quotation,  just  made  from  the  prophecies  of 
Jeremiah.  If  the  views  which  have  been  advanced  in  re- 
lation to  election  be  correct,  this  case  presents  the  oppo- 
site side  of  this  great  subject:  and  both  sides  of  that  sub- 
ject may  well  be  looked  for  under  an  administration  which 
presides  over  good  and  evil.  Why  should  not  the  conse- 
quences of  sin  be  symbolized,  as  well  as  the  consequences 
of  righteousness  ? — Let  the  following  explanatory  remarks 
be  duly  considered. 

1.  It  is  abundantly  clear,  that  though  Pharaoh  appears  to 
be  referred  to  individually,  yet  that  reference  is  to  his  official 
character,  as  the  king  of  Egypt.  The  language  is  similar 
to,  and  to  be  interpreted  on  the  same  principles  with,  that 
which  is  used  concerning  the  hebrews,  when  God  said — 
"Israel  is  my  son."  The  whole  case  is  to  be  expounded 
by  the  rules  which  belong  to  Jehovah's  government  over 
nations  ;  and  which  he  himself  has  so  distinctly  stated  by 
the  prophet  Jeremiah. 

2.  The  judgments  inflicted  were  national  in  their  charac- 
ter ;  and  that  which  was  the  last,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
most  distressing,  was  peculiarly  so  ;  for  then  the  first-born, 
or  the  family  heirs  officially  speaking,  were  destroyed. 

3.  It  is  positively  asserted  that  Pharaoh  hardened  his  own 
heart.      He  reasoned  on  the  whole  subject  which  Moses 


132  LECTURES  ON 

presented  to  his  consideration,  as  a  politician.     He  was  cal- 
culating the  consequences  which  would  occur  to  his  own 
people  from  the  sudden  exodus  of  such  an  immense  multi- 
tude of  slaves,  on  whose  labor  the  nation  had  been  so  long 
accustomed  to  depend.     He  foresaw  the  serious  difficulties 
in  which  his  people  should  be  involved — the  utter  helpless- 
ness to  which  they  should  be  reduced.     The  rights  of  the 
Hebrews — the  history  of  their  settlement  in  Egypt — the 
gratitude  which  any  recollection  of  Joseph's  ministerial  ser- 
vices might  have  inspired — the  well  known  tradition  that 
Abraham's  children  should  return  to  their  own  land — and 
the  miracles  which  had  been  wrought  before  his  eyes — 
were  the  considerations  which,  as  a  moralist,  he  ought  most 
carefully  and  deliberately  to  have  weighed.     But  I  will 
freely  admit,  that  when  politics  and  morals  are  brought  into 
collision — whether  the  problem  be  presented  to  civil  or  ec- 
clesiastical politicians — mankind  have  found  considerable 
difficulty  in  acting  right.     And  surely  they  have  no  rea- 
son, in  doing  wrong,  either  to  complain,  or  to  be  surprised, 
if  a  retributive  providence  should  at  last  overtake  them. 
Should  a  course  of  forbearance  be  pursued,  which  allows 
them  full  time  to  reconsider  and  rectify  these  errors,  this  is 
more  than  they  could  demand  from  mere  justice;  and  all 
that  they  could  expect  from  grace.     Thus  God  does  deal, 
even  tvith  nations — as  he  states  in  the  passage  already 
quoted — "At  what  instant  I  shall  speak  concerning  a  na- 
tion, and  concerning  a  kingdom,  to  pluck  up,  and  to  pull 
down,  and  to  destroy  it;  if  that  nation  against  whom  I  have 
pronounced,  turn  from  their  evil,  I  will  repent  of  the  evil 
that  I  thought  to  do  unto  it."     Thus  God  did  deal  with  Pha- 
raoh.    Long  did  he  forbear;  and  at  a^ny  time  had  Pharaoh 
turned  from  evil,  he  might  have  escaped  the  calamities  un- 
der which  he  suffered,  and  the  catastrophe  in  which  the 
judicial  process  terminated.     Under  this  view  no  case  can 
be  plainer,  whether  that  case  be  individual  or  official.     No- 
thing more  is  required  of  any  controvertist  in  order  to  see 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  133 

it  so,  than  to  consider  that  politics  are  but  a  branch  of 
morals ;  that  God  governs  nations  as  well  as  individuals ;  and 
that  his  providence  towards  one  is  emblematic  of  his  pro- 
vidence towards  the  other. 

4.  The  difficulties  which  theologians  have  felt  with  regard 
to  the  expressions  concerning  Pharaoh,  arise  from  their  not 
considering  the  use  which  the  Hebrews  made  of  active  verbs. 
These  were  often  employed  to  express  a  mere  permission 
to  do  a  thing,  or  a  mere  prophecy  of  some  particular  event. 
Take  this  example  of  the  first — "  If  the  prophet  be  de- 
ceived, when  he  hath  spoken  a  thing,  /  the  Lord  have  de- 
ceived that  prophet."  Do  you,  can  you,  for  a  moment  sup- 
pose that  God  is  guilty  of  the  immorality  of  practicing  a 
deception  upon  the  mind  of  any  creature,  who,  in  conse- 
quence of  that  deception,  is  involved  in  everlasting  perdi- 
tion ?  If  the  use  of  terms,  or  a  grammatical  principle  be- 
longing to  any  language  from  which  those  terms  are  deriv- 
ed, will  explain  such  a  measure  in  a  consistent  manner,  all 
difficulty  is  removed ;  and  no  wisdom  is  displayed  in  the 
fastidiousness  that  refuses  to  be  satisfied.  Every  generous 
and  elevated  mind  would  rejoice  to  be  relieved  from  such 
an  onerous  and  dishonorable  imputation  on  the  moral  sys- 
tem he  has  espoused. 

Take  these  examples  of  the  second  :  God  said  to  Jere- 
miah— "  See  I  have  this  day  set  thee  over  the  nations  and 
over  the  kingdoms,  to  root  out,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to 
destroy,  and  to  throw  down,  to  build  and  to  plant ."  Thus 
Ezekiel  speaks  of  himself,  referring  to  his  official  at- 
titude as  a  prophet: — "And  it  was  according  to  the 
vision  which  I  saw,  even  according  to  the  vision  which 
I  saw  when  1  came  to  destroy  the  city."  God  gave  this 
command  to  Isaiah — ■•"  Make  the  heart  of  this  people  fat, 
and  make  their  ears  heavy,  and  shut  their  eyes ;  lest 
they  see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  un- 
derstand with  their  heart,  and  convert,  and  be  healed." 
The  chief  butler,  giving  an  account  of  Joseph's  ability  to 
Vol.  II.— 12 


\S4  LECTURES  ON 

interpret  dreams,  said — "  Me  he  restored  unto  my  office, 
and  him  he  hanged."  Mere  prophecy,  and  nothing  more, 
is  expressed  by  the  terms ;  as  is  abundantly  evident,  not 
only  from  their  own  application,  but  from  the  fact  that,  when 
the  Redeemer  interpreted  the  prophecy  uttered  by  Isaiah, 
he  charges  the  guilt  directly  upon  the  jews. — "  Their  eyes 
they  have  closed."  Interpret  the  term  harden,  when  ap- 
plied to  God's  dealings  with  Pharaoh,  under  the  recol- 
lection that  the  Hebrews  did  thus  employ  active  verbs,  and 
the  whole  matter  is  plain. 

5.  Let  us  put  the  different  passages,  as  the  apostle  Paul 
applies  them  to  Pharaoh,  together,  and  then  we  may  per- 
haps distinctly  perceive  their  import. — "I  will  have  mercy 
on  whom  I  will  have  mercy,  and  I  will  have  compassion  on 
whom  I  will  have  compassion. — Even  for  this  same  purpose 
have  I  raised  thee  up,  that  I  might  show  my  power  in  thee, 
and  that  my  name  might  be  declared  throughout  the  earth. 
Therefore  hath  he  mercy  on  whom  he  will  have  mercy,  and 
whom  he  will  he  hardeneth.  What  if  God,  willing  to  show 
his  wrath,  and  to  make  his  power  known,  endured  with 
much  long  suffering  the  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruc- 
tion." In  Exodus  the  phrase  is,  u  I  will  be  gracious  to  whom 
[  will  be  gracious,  and  will  show  mercy  to  whom  I  will 
show  mercy."  The  very  same  principle  runs  through  all 
these  passages :  they  all  express  the  same  political  opera- 
tion of  the  Governor  of  the  world.  To  have  compa- 
to  shoiv  mercy,  to  harden,  and  to  endure  with  much  long  suf- 
fering, are,  in  this  connexion,  synonymous  and  interchange- 
able. They  are  not  intended  to  convey  any  idea  of  judicial 
blindness,  or  of  a  direct  agency,  by  which  Jehovah  render- 
ed it  impossible  for  Pharaoh  to  obey  the  summons  which 
he  had  received.  On  the  contrary,  their  meaning  is  perfect- 
ly coincident  with  the  fact,  as  the  history  evinces.  God  did 
show  compassion,  or  mercy,  and  did  endure  with  much  long 
suffering,  when,  on  Pharaoh's  professed  repentance,  judg- 
ment after  judgment  was  kindly  removed.  The  effect  which 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  135 

followed  was,  that  Pharaoh  hardened  his  own  heart.  And 
as  this  effect  did  follow  the  compassion  and  long-suffering 
which  God  displayed,  he  is  said,  not  positively  nor  judi- 
cially, but  agreeably  to  the  use  of  active  verbs  among  the 
Hebrews,  to  harden  Pharaoh's  heart.  Besides,  the  expres- 
sions refer  simply  to  national  character  and  doings,  as  is 
evident  in  relation  both  to  Pharaoh  and  Israel. 

Moreover,  the  interpretation  which  God  gives  of  his  own 
transactions  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah  evinces  that,  not  only 
was  the  removing  of  the  judgments  in  Pharaoh's  case  mer- 
ciful, but  the  object  of  that  removal  was  to  give  him  space 
to  repent:  for  it  is  said — "  If  that  nation,  against  whom  I 
have  pronounced,  turn  from  their  evil,  I  will  repent  of  the 
evil  which  I  thought  to  do  unto  them."  Accordingly  Pha- 
raoh is  exhibited  as  a  vessel  of  wrath  fitted,  or  who  had 
fitted  himself/ for  destruction.  He  did  profess  to  repent, 
and  his  prayer  was  granted ;  yet  he  became  like  the  clay 
marred  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  by  which  Jehovah  figu- 
ratively describes  a  nation  which  had  done  evil. 

But  still  God  said  to  this  infatuated  politician — "For 
this  same -purpose  I  have  raised  thee  up,  that  I  might  show 
my  power  in  thee,  and  that  my  name  might  be  declared 
throughout  all  the  earth."  True.  But  in  the  original 
the  phrase  literally  signifies,  "  I  have  made  thee  to  stand." 
This  declaration,  too,  is  equivalent  with  showing  compas- 
sion or  mercy,  and  enduring  with  long  suffering.  For  it 
was  by  these  means  that  the  nation  was  made  to  stand,  or 
was  preserved  ;  otherwise  any  one  of  the  judgments  would 
have  swept  them  into  destruction.  Time  was  granted  for 
repentance ;  but  as  repentance  was  not  produced,  God 
dealt  with  that  obdurate  people  as  the  potter  dealt  with  the 
clay  when  it  was  marred  in  his  hand,  and  while  he  was  en- 
deavoring to  make  it  "  a  vessel  of  honor."  So  God,  in  his 
providence,  presiding  over  an  intermixture  of  good  and 
evil,  must  deal  with  mankind.  If  they  will  not  suffer  him 
to  guide  them  to  glory,  honor,  and  immortality,  and  there- 


136  LECTURES  ON 

by  demonstrate  the  connexion  between  righteousness  and 
life,  they  must  expect  to  be  dealt  with  "  as  vessels  of 
wrath,"  long  cameo?  with  great  care,  but  at  length  dashed 
into  pieces,  that  the  connexion  between  sin  and  death  may 
be  set  forth.  The  apparent  assertion  that  God  dealt  thus 
with  Pharaoh  on.  purpose  to  destroy  him,  is  nothing  more 
than  the  idiomatic  form  of  speech,  so  common  in  the  he- 
brew  language ;  and  which  has  already  been  noticed  in 
the  peculiar  use  of  active  verbs  which  characterizes  it.* 

Now  as  this  nation  did  not  repent,  as  the  Governor  of 
the  world  must  make  a  consistent  and  profitable  use  of 
their  official  relations,  and  as  a  period  had  occurred  in  the 
history  of  man  when  something  must  be  done  in  order  to 
preserve  truth  in  the  world  ;  while  Jehovah,  on  the  one 
hand,  elects  the  children  of  Israel  through  grace,  to  be 
a  symbolical  exhibition  of  truth,  so,  on  the  other,  he  "re- 
probates" or  '''passes  by,"  or  manifests  correlative  views 
of  truth,  by  his  dealings  with  Pharaoh.  The  whole  mat- 
ter is  brought  out  on  both  sides  to  stand  distinct  and  pro- 
minent ;  not  to  show  us  that  God  elects  some  to  ever- 
lasting life,  and  reprobates  others  to  everlasting  condemna- 
tion, but  to  "  declare  his  name  throughout  all  the  earth : — 
Or  his  design  was  and  is  to  manifest  his  truth,  that  all  men 
might  see.  believe,  and  be  saved.  The  display  comes  home 
to  them  as  being  thrown  on  their  personal  responsibilities  ; 
and  not  as  having  their  fate  determinedly  and  unalterably 
fixed  by  an  eternal  and  arbitrary  decree.  So  then,  if  man 
perishes,  he  perishes  by  his  own  fault,  the  election  itself 
being  the  criterion  by  which  the  moral  problem  is  to  be 
solved. 

The  subject  of  this  providential  superintendence,  admit- 
ting so  broad  a  distinction  between  official'services  and  in- 
dividual interest,  is  also  beautifully  illustrated  by  the  Re- 
deemer in  one  of  his  parables.  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven," 
said  he,  "  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  an  householder,  which 
*See  M'Kni^ht's  Notes  on  Rom.  ix.  4. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  137 

went  out  early  in  the  morning  to  hire  laborers  into  his 
vineyard.     And  when  he  had  agreed  with  the  laborers  for 
a  penny  a  day,  he  sent  them  into  his  vineyard."     At  dif- 
ferent times  during  the  day  he  sent  other  laborers  into  the 
vineyard,  promising  to  give  them  whatever  was  right.  In 
the  evening,  when  the  hours  of  labor  were  past,  he  called 
the  laborers  to  give  them  their  hire,  and  he  gave  to  each 
one  a  penny.     Those  who  came  into  the  vineyard  early  in 
the  morning  were  offended  at  the  conduct  of  their  em- 
ployer,  and  remonstrated  against  his  apparent  injustice. 
"These  last,"  said  they,  "have  wrought  but  one  hour,  and 
thou  hast  made  them  equal  to  us  which  have  borne  the 
burthen  and  heat  of  the  day.     But  he  answered  one  of 
them,  and  said — Friend  I  do  thee  no  wrong:  didst  not 
thou  agree  with  me  for  a  penny  ?     Take  that  thine  is  and 
go  thy  way ;  I  will  give   unto  this  last  even  as  unto  thee. 
Js  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will  with  my  own  ?    Is 
thine  eye  evil  because  I  am  good?"     Now,  says  the  Re- 
deemer, the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  to  this  householder. 
But  in  what  respect?     In  this,  he  replies,  that  "  many  are 
called,  but  few  are  chosen."     If  this  be  so,  then  the  choice 
of  the  few  does  not  interfere  with  the  rights  of  the  many : 
these  are  still  respected,  and  get  their  penny,  the  full  re- 
ward of  their  labor.  Their  responsibilities  are  not  nullified  : 
nor  do  they  loose  the  fruit  of  their  effort.     Or,  God  in  his 
own  goodness,  regulating  his  kingdom  according  to  his  own 
wisdom,  may  confer  distinguished  honors  on  a  few,  and 
carry  out  in  his  providence  a  "  purpose  of  election,"  with- 
out infringing  on  the  moral  privileges  of  the  rest.     The 
way  to  eternal  life  is  open  to  all,  notwithstanding  the  elec- 
tion which  has  taken  place.     The   election  does  not  im- 
pinge- upon  the  universality  of  the  atonement ;  neither  is 
it  an  election  unto  eternal  life,  which  leaves  all  who  are 
not  chosen  to  perish,  that  is,  involved  in  the  divine  trans- 
action ;  but  it  is  a  pure  rectoral  matter,  by  which  God  does 

no  wrong  to  any  one  ;  and  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the 
12* 


138  LECTURES  ON 

salvation  of  every  man.  The  scriptural  doctrine  on  this 
unutterably  interesting  subject,  leaves  the  personal  respon- 
sibility of  each  one,  as  placed  under  mediatorial  law  and 
accountable  to  Christ  his  judge,  unimpaired. 

Such  are  the  scriptural  views  of  the  doctrine  of  elec- 
tion. Nor  do  I  know  of  any  other  form  in  which  the  bible 
states  that  doctrine,  unless  it  may  be  that  which  is  implied 
in  the  declaration — "The  Lord  has  set  apart  him  that  is 
godly  for  himself."  And  this  exhibition  of  the  doctrine, 
so  far  as  personal  responsibility  is  concerned,  is  exactly 
what  it  should  be.  It  leaves  the  statement  which  the  Re- 
deemer has  made  concerning  the  resurrection  unembarras- 
sed : — "  The  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all  that  are  in  the 
graves  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  shall 
come  forth ;  they  that  have  done  good  unto  the  resurrec- 
tion of  life ;  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the  resur- 
rection of  damnation."  It  involves  no  reprobation,  nor  giv- 
ing over  unto  eternal  perdition,  excepting  on  the  ground  of 
personal  crime.  And  in  fact,  no  other  view  in  reference 
to  personal  responsibility,  would  correspond  with  the  gospel 
as  an  exhibition  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ;  for  bj^  that 
righteousness  all  men  are  made  righteous,  and  are  brought 
into  justification  of  life.  There  is  no  election  to  re- 
strict THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  DEAD. 

It  now  only  remains  for  me  briefly  to  consider  some  gene- 
ral reasoning,  which  is  conceived  to  be  utterly  subversive 
of  the  preceding  views,  and  directly  in  favor  of  a  limited 
atonement,  or  an  election  of  individuals  unto  eternal  life. 
All  will  say,  God  is  omniscient,  and  therefore  he  foreknows 
whatever  comes  to  pass.  And  what  then  ?  Whatsoever 
God  foreknows  will  certainly,  it  is  supposed,  come  to  pass  ; 
and  is  of  course,  fixed  and  certain — fore-ordained,  or  pre- 
destined. Foreknowledge  and  pre-ordination,  are  thus  re- 
presented to  be  in  fact  the  same  thing;  and  we  are  often 
told  that  it  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  distinguish  between 
them,  seeing  that  either  will  lead  infallibly  to  the  same  re- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  139 

suit. — Nay  more ;  it  has  been  said  that  nothing  can  be  fore- 
known which  has  not  been  pre-ordained  :  so  that  the  di- 
vine decrees  are  the  basis  of  the  divine  foreknowledge. 
Such,  it  is  imagined,  is  the  order  of  nature  in  the  case.  This 
reasoning  will  be  applied  to  the  subject  we  have  in  hand, 
as  follows : — God  foreknows  who  will  ultimately  be  saved, 
and  who  will  not.  This  is  necessarily  implied  in  the  fact 
that  he  foreknows  all  things  that  come  to  pass.  In  this 
matter  God  cannot  be  deceived.  The  precise  number  of 
those  who  are  eventually  to  be  saved  is  therefore  certainly 
fixed,  beyond  the  power  of  change  ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of 
small  difference,  whether,  in  respect  of  that  number,  God 
be  said  to  foreknow  or  to  fore-ordain  it.  Still  further  ;  as 
God  cannot  foreknow  a  thing  to  come  to  pass.,  which  is  not 
pre-ordained,  that  precise  number  is  fore-ordained  : — those 
that  are  saved,  are  elected,  and  those  who  are  not  saved, 
are  reprobated.  T  believe  that  I  have  stated  the  argument 
fairly.  If  any  object  to  the  statement,  and  instead  of  re- 
probating, would  say  that  those  who  are  lost  are  passed  by, 
I  answer,  that  either  this  passing  by  is  the  consequence  of 
a  divine  decree  so  predestinating  the  matter,  or  it  is  not.  If 
it  be  the  consequence  of  a  decree,  it  is  reprfibation.  If  it 
be  not  the  consequence  of  a  decree,  God  has  simply  fore- 
known the  things,  and  has  predetermined  nothing  about  it. 
Then  foreknowledge  and  fore-ordination  are  not  the  same  ; 
and  as  foreknowledge  is  not  fore-ordination  in  the  one  case, 
neither  is  it  in  the  other  ;  so  that,  if  there  be  no  reprobation, 
there  is,  by  parity  of  reasoning,  no  election. 

I  object  to  the  whole  argument,  though  it  be  thought  by 
many,  to  be  unanswerable.  The  necessary  connexion  be- 
tween foreknowledge  and  pre-ordination,  which  it  supposes, 
is  not  called  for  by  the  philosophy  of  mind.  We  foreknow 
that  the  sun  will  rise  to-morrow,  and  we  cannot  be  deceived. 
It  is  true,  that  the  rising  of  the  sun  to-morrow  is  a  prede- 
termined event. ;  but  though  it  be  so,  yet  it  certainly  does 
not  depend  on  our  volitions,  or  on  any  predetermining  power 


140  LECTURES  ON 

which  we  may  possess.  Here  then  is  mind,  foreknowing 
an  event  which  must  take  place,  and  yet  without  pre-ordain- 
ing that  event.  So  far  from  our  predetermining  this  event, 
we  merely  foreknow  it,  while  its  occurrence  depends  upon 
the  volitions  of  another  being:  and  had  we  been  ignorant 
of  the  plans  and  intentions  of  that  other  being,  we  should 
have  foreknown  nothing  about  the  matter. 

We  may  shrewdly  predict  the  results  which  shall  occur 
in  the  history  of  an  individual,  whose  character,  or  conduct, 
or  circumstances,  may  have  furnished  us  with  premises  from 
which  to  reason.     We  may  foretell  with  unerring  accura- 
cy the   downfall  of  an   empire,  or  a  revolution  in  a  com- 
munity :  and  yet  the  events  which  are  so  unerringly  pro- 
phesied  have  no  clependance  on  our  volitions.     We  may 
kindly  use  all  our  efforts  to  prevent  these  foreseen  disasters, 
may  feel  the  most  pressing  obligations  so  to  act,  and  yet 
our  influence  shall  be  exerted  in  vain.     The  more  intellec- 
tual or  intelligent  a  man  may  be,  the  more  familiar  he  may 
become  with  such  painful  calculations.     Yet  his  power  to 
anticipate  and  declare  these  and  like  results,  though  amount- 
ing  almost  to  the  impossibilty  of  committing  a  mistake, 
argues  no  pre-ordination  on  the  part  of  the  individual  whose 
prophetic  vision  has  been  so  clear.     In  fact,  the  old  testa- 
ment prophets,  as  well  as  the  new  testament  apostles,  did 
thus  distinctly  and  indubitably  foretell  events  which  occur- 
red centuries  after  they  had  gone  to  sleep  with  their  fathers, 
and  others,  which,  to  this  hour,  are  not  fulfilled.     Yet  their 
foreknowledge  did  not  exhibit  any  power  on  their  part  to 
predestine  what  they  had  prophesied ;  though,  in  using  ac- 
tive verbs  according  to  the  idiom  of  the  language  in  which 
they  wrote,  they  seem  to  pre-ordain  what  they  could  only 
foretell.     All  this  is  perfectly  accordant  with  the  philosophy 
of  mind.     For  in  all  the  cases  specified,  intellectual  beings 
simply  declared  what  they  had  the  power  to  perceive,  with- 
out any  power  to  preordain.     The  volitions  of  numberless 
other  beings,  and  even  of  generations  of  beings,  passed  un- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  141 

der  their  prophetic  glance  :  and  all  that  can  be  predicated 
o£  the  intellectual  phenomenon  is,  that  great  power  of 
judgment  has  been  evinced. 

God  knows  all  things.  To  him  the  darkness  and  the 
light  are  both  alike.  One  day  is  with  him  as  a  thousand 
years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day.  He  understand- 
eth  our  thoughts  afar  off;  there  is  not  a  word  of  our  tongue 
which  he  does  not  know  altogether.  Give  to  a  human  be- 
ing such  power,  and  what  will  he  not  be  able  to  foretell? 
What  calculations  can  he  not  make  ?  Where  is  any  ne- 
cessity that  he  should  constrain,  or  control,  the  volitions  of 
beings,  wmose  hearts  and  ways  are  thus  open  before  him  ? 
Could  he  not  predict  who  would  do  good,  and  who  would 
do  evil? — We  repeat  it:  the  philosophy  of  mind  requires 
no  such  indispensable  connexion  between  foreknowledge 
and  fore-ordination.  And  therefore  the  foreknowledge  of 
God  does  by  no  means  necessarily  imply  his  fore-ordination. 

To  me  it  seems,  that  the  argument  which  I  have  framed, 
bespeaks  a  higher  degree  of  perfection  in  the  Eternal,  than 
that  which  I  combat.  For  certainly  it  requires  more  intel- 
lectual reach,  and  a  wider  range  of  thought,  in  an  intelligent 
being,  to  foreknow  and  foretell  the  instantaneous  volitions 
and  varied  movements  of  millions  of  other  beings — of  all 
other  beings — than  to  foreknow  and  foretell  what  his  own 
volitions  and  movements  shall  be.  The  one  implies  omni- 
science, and  the  other  does  not.  Beings  who  are  free  to 
think  and  free  to  act,  belong  to  a  higher  order  of  intelli- 
gence, than  they  do  who  have  no  freedom  of  volition ;  and 
it  is  always  more  difficult  to  read  their  character,  and  fathom 
their  purposes.  A  slave  can  never  be  compared  with  a 
freeman ;  as  he  never  can  possess  half  the  intelligence, 
nor  evince  half  the  intellectual  force.  Slavery  destroys 
mind  ;  liberty  cherishes  and  enlarges  it.  The  officer  who 
can  govern  a  slave  population,  is,  or  may  be,  wholly  incom- 
petent to  preside  over  a  free  community.  Now,  man  as  a 
free  agent  is  altogether  a  different  being  from  man  as  not 


U2  LECTURES  ON 

free,  in  respect  of  religion,  as  well  as  in  regard  of  any  thing 
else.  In  the  latter  case,  he  may  be  charmed  with  a  series 
of  "  carnal  ordinances :" — pictures  and  images,  fasts  and 
festivals,  pomp  and  ceremony,  are  all  that  he  delights  in. 
But  in  the  former  case  he  calls  for  thought  and  argument, 
which  must  become  refined,  or  profound,  as  rapidly  as  he 
advances  in  intellectual  growth.  The  nearer  therefore  that 
he  approaches  to  that,  which  his  Creator  intended  he  should 
become,  the  greater  is  the  degree  of  mind  which  he  calls 
into  communion  with  himself,  and  the  higher  does  the  Cre- 
ator rise  in  his  view.  So  that  the  philosophy  of  mind  not 
only  supposes  no  necessary  connexion  between  foreknow- 
ledge and  fore-ordination,  but  absolutely  breaks  it  up,  inas- 
much as  it  requires  more  mind  to  govern  man  as  a  free 
agent ;  and  inasmuch  as  free  agency  improves  and  exalts 
man  himself. 

But  again  I  remark.,  that  God  foreknows  what  has  never 
come  to  pass,  and  what  therefore  could  not  have  been  pre- 
ordained. If  this  assertion  can  be  made  good,  the  argu- 
ment we  are  combating  will  be  completely  overthrown. 
Let  us  try.  When  Jehovah  made  man  at  first,  he  placed 
him  in  a  probationary  state,  endowed  with  power  to  keep 
the  law,  and  yet  liable  to  fall.  The  constitution  which  the 
lawgiver  established  had  two  sides  ;  for  it  might  be  ful- 
filled, and  one  train  of  consequences  would  follow  ;  or  it 
might  be  broken,  and  another  train  of  consequences  would 
follow.  Certainly  Jehovah  knows  both  sides  of  his  own 
constitution.  This  cannot  be  denied.  The  denial  of  such 
a  plain  common  sense  truth  would  be  in  a  high  degree  ir- 
rational. If  it  should  be  denied,  we  have  only  to  add,  that 
the  law  was  broken,  and  the  appropriate  consequences  have 
followed,  all  of  which  were  confessedly  foreknown ;  and 
now,  the  very  object  of  the  gospel  is  to  recover  what  has 
been  lost,  and  to  bring  about  the  other  ; — an  operation  which 
is  in  actual  progress,  and  therefore,  on  the  same  ground, 
must  have  been  equally  foreknown.     Indeed  from  the  first, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  143 

Jehovah  declares  himself  to  know  both  good  and  evil ;  nor 
could  he  threaten,  on  the  one  hand,  or  promise  on  the  other, 
that  of  which  he  knew  nothing. 

A  similar  state  of  things  is  described  by  the  psalmist,  in 
which  God  actually  declares  what  would  have  occurred,  had 
his  people  obeyed  his  commandments.  "  O  that  my  peo- 
ple," said  he,  "had  hearkened  unto  me,  and  Israel  had 
walked  in  my  ways  !  I  should  soon  have  subdued  their 
enemies,  and  turned  my  hands  against  their  adversaries. 
The  haters  of  the  Lord  should  have  submitted  themselves 
unto  him :  but  their  time  should  have  endured  forever. 
He  should  have  fed  them  also  with  the  finest  of  the  wheat: 
and  with  honey  out  of  the  rock  should  I  have  satisfied  thee. 
But  my  people  would  not  hearken  to  my  voice :  and  Israel 
would  none  of  me.  So  I  gave  them  up  to  their  own  heart's 
lust;  and  they  walked  in  their  own  counsels."  Here, 
what  came  to  pass,  and  what  did  not  come  to  pass,  are  both 
distinctly  asserted. 

One  more  example. — "  0  Lord  God  of  Israel,"  said  Da- 
vid, "  thy  servant  hath  certainly  heard  that  Saul  seekethto 
come  to  Keilah,  to  destroy  the  city  for  my  sake.  Will  the 
men  of  Keilah  deliver  me  up  into  his  hand?  Will  Saul 
come  down  as  thy  servant  hath  heard?"  The  Lord  replied 
to  him,  that  Saul  would  come  down,  and  that  the  men  of 
Keilah  would  deliver  him  into  Saul's  hand.  Now  the  fact 
is  that  Saul  did  not  come  down,  neither  did  the  men  of 
Keilah  deliver  David  into  his  hand  :  for  David  immediate- 
ly made  his  escape.  Here  then  God  positively  foreknew 
and  actually  declared  what  did  not  come  to  pass.  The  in- 
indispensable  connexion  between  foreknowledge  and  pre- 
destination, which  has  been  so  often  asserted,  is  therefore 
a  pure  theological  figment — destitute  of  all  liberal  thought, 
and  as  cramped  as  it  is  untrue. 

But  perhaps  it  may  now  be  objected  that  my  reasoning 
destroys  predestination  altogether.  This  objection  would 
be  inconsiderate.     For  such  a  being  as  I  have  supposed 


144  LECTURES  ON 

God  to  be,  presiding  over  such  a  race  of  intelligent  crea- 
tures as  I  have  supposed  men  to  be,  must  have  his  own 
views  and  designs ;  and  would  certainly  predetermine'  to 
the  extent  of  his  own  volitions  and  plans.  No  intelligent 
being  can  act  without  some  defined  purpose  and  intentions. 
Neither  would  God  so  act.  We  may  then  expect  to  find, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  "fixed  points,"  established  rules, 
and  unavoidable  events,  displayed  under  his  administration. 
He  will  carry  on  a  line  of  moral  causes  and  effects,  as  in- 
dispensable and  certain  as  any  laws  in  physical  nature. 
He  will  create  official  trust,  as  seemeth  good  to  him,  in 
order  to  sustain  his  own  government.  He  will  bring  about 
certain  events — the  crucifixion  of  his  Son  for  example — 
as  indispensable  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  own  wise 
and  gracious  purposes.  And  all  these  events  may  be  fore- 
known and  foreordained.  But  none  of  them  infringe,  nor 
is  there  any  necessity  that  they  should  infringe,  in  the  least 
degree  on  the  volitions  of  his  creatures,  beyond  their  own 
proper  responsibility. 

Unless  I  greatly  mistake,  some  such  distinction  as  this, 
involving  the  immutability  of  established  laws  and  the 
mutability  of  divine  dispensations,  is  indispensably  necessa- 
ry to  the  interpretation  of  the  scriptures  throughout.  There 
must  be  some  points  which  are  unalterably  fixed,  and 
others  which  may  be  changed  according  to  the  issues  of 
the  sinner's  probationary  course.  This  peculiarity  of  every 
government.  which  recognises  the  free  agency  of  its  sub- 
jects, would  no  doubt  be  readily  conceded  as  a  character- 
istic of  the  divine  government,  had  not  an  ideal  perfection, 
which  has  no  coincidence  with  the  sinner's  imperfection, 
been  so  long  and  so  strenuously  asserted  as  indispensably 
resulting  from  the  divine  attributes.  Hence  certain  texts 
have  been  purloined  from  one  view,  and  inconsiderately 
appropriated  to  the  other,  as  though  every  thing  were  ab- 
solutely fixed,  and  any  idea  of  change  were  perfectly  in- 
admissible in  reference  to  the  divine  mind. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  145 

Let  us  lay  some  scripture  passages  along-side  of  each 
other.  "Every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift  is  from 
above,  and  cometh  down  from  the  Father  of  lights,  with 
whom  is  no  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning."  "  God  is 
not  a  man  that  he  should  lie,  neither  the  son  of  man,  that 
he  should  repent.  Hath  he  said,  and  shall  he  not  do  it?  or 
hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not  make  it  good?"  "The 
Strength  of  Israel  will  not  lie  nor  repent :  for  he  is  not  a 
man  that  he  should  repent."  "I  am  the  Lord,  /  change  not, 
therefore  ye  sons  of  Jacob  are  not  consumed."  "I  am 
God — declaring  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  from  an- 
cient times  the  things  that  are  not  yet  done,  saying,  my 
counsel  shall  stand,  and  I  will  do  all  my  pleasure."  Many 
such  texts  might  be  copied  out,  all  of  which  would  imme- 
diately be  recognised  by  certain  theological  disputants,  as 
sustaining  the  heavy  proposition  that  God  "  has  foreor- 
dained whatsoever  comes  to  pass." 

But  there  are  other  texts  which  are  identified  with  the 
free  agency  and  imperfection  of  man,  which,  to  some,  are 
apparently  contradictory  to  those  quoted.  Such  as — "  It 
repented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  man  on  the  earth,  and 
it  grieved  him  at  his  heart."  "  It  repenteth  me  that  I  have 
set  up  Saul  to  be  king,  for  he  hath  turned  back  from  fol- 
lowing me."  "And  God  saw  their  works,  that  they  turn- 
ed from  their  evil  way  ;  and  God  repented  of  the  evil  that 
he  had  said  he  would  do  unto  them,  and  he  did  it  not." — 
<(  Should  I  not  spare  Nineveh  ?"  "Turn  unto  the  Lord  your 
God,  for  he  is  gracious  and  merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and  of 
great  kindness,  and  repenteth  him  of  the  evil."  "  For  the 
Lord  will  judge  his  people,  and  he  will  repent  himself 
concerning  his  servants." — How  shall  these  things  be  re- 
conciled ?  They  perplex  many  a  plain  christian ;  and  as 
much  as  the  Redeemer's  declaration  has  done,  when  he 
said — "But  of  that  day  and  that  hour  knoweth  no  man, 
no,  not  the  angels  which  are  in  heaven,  neither  the  son 

BUT  THE    FATHER." 

Vol.  II.— 13 


146  LECTURES  ON 

Now  observe  that  both  classes  of  texts  belong  to  the  re- 
velation which  God  has  given  us.     The  first  refers  to  es- 
tablished laws,  which  cannot  pass  away,  or  to  the  gospel 
which  endureth   forever :  the  second  refers  to  the  actions 
of  the  creature,  moving  under  the  burden  of  his  lusts,  or 
amidst  most  powerful  temptations.     The  first  is  statute, 
and  the  second  is  the  application  of  the  statute  to  chang- 
ing circumstances.     If  circumstances   change,  ought  not 
the  application  of  the  statute  to  change  ?     If  the  sinner  re- 
pent, ought  not  his  cry  and  prayer  to  be  heard,  though  judg- 
ment had  been  proclaimed  ?  "  Come  Jonah,"  says  Jehovah 
to  his  servant,  I  put  the  question  home  to  yourself — "  should 
not  I  spare   repenting  Nineveh?"     Would  law  thus    be 
abandoned  ?     Is  not  this  gospel  ?     But,  while  the  Son  is 
presented  before  us,  as  such  a  Lord,  to  conduct  such  an  ad- 
ministration, as  becomes  us,  and  while  this  want  of  know- 
ledge predicated  of  him  is  the  correlative  of  his  avowed 
sympathy  or  fellow-feeling ;  this  proposition — "  God  hath 
foreordained  whatsoever  comes  to  pass,"  passes  by  the 
Son,  or  overlooks  all  his  official  attributes,  and  pries  into  the 
Father's  secrets,  of  which  we  can  know  nothing  but  as  the 
Son  reveals  them.     Hence  the  controvertist  talks   about 
mystery,  and  presumptuously  reasons  on  what  he  is  pleased 
to  term  the  secret  will  of  God.     Our  perceptions  can- 
not keep  pace,  and  we  demand  him  to  retrace  his  steps  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  men,  instead  of  confounding  them 
with  his  conjectures.     That  God  hath  foreordained  whatso- 
ever comes  to  pass,  is  an  unrevealed,  incomprehensible  and 
irrelevant  proposition,  and  is  utterly  out  of  all  character 
with  the  fact  that  God  has  assumed  personal  form,  or  has 
made  himself  known  to  us  by  external  manifestation.   The 
theologue  who  maintains   the  difficult  and  abstruse  dogma, 
has  ventured  to  speculate  outside  of  the  world  in  which  he 
lives. 

But  has  not  the  distinction  which  I  have  made,  been  un- 
equivocally stated  in  the  scriptures  ?     When  illustrating  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  147 

priesthood  of  Christ,  by  a  comparison  with  that  of  Melchi- 
sedec  and  Aaron,  and  measuring  the  period  during  which 
the  Mosaic  law  imposed  its  obligations,  Paul  framed  the 
following  argument :  Jesus  was  made  a  Priest  with  an  oath: 
the  levitical  priests  were  made  without  an  oath.  Is  there 
any  valuable  difference  ?  and  if  there  be,  what  is  it?  An 
oath  among  men,  says  the  apostle,  is  "for  confirmation," 
and  "  to  them  is  an  end  of  all  strife."  Accordingly,  he 
adds,  "  God  willing  more  abundantly  to  show  unto  the 
heirs  of  promise  the  immutability  of  his  counsel,  con- 
firmed it  by  an  oath."  Thus  Jesus  was  made  a  priest. 
"  The  Lord  sware  and  will  not  repent,  thou  art  a  priest  for- 
ever." There  is  therefore  no  changing  the  priesthood  of 
Christ.  It  is  immutable.  But  the  levitical  priesthood 
was  not  confirmed  by  an  oath.  It  therefore  was  not  im- 
mutable, and  not  only  might  be,  but  actually  has  been, 
changed.  Is  there  not  then  a  difference  between  the  rec- 
toral  transactions  of  Jehovah?  May  they  not  be  mutable, 
or  immutable  ?  and  that  according  as  they  have  or  have 
not  been  established  by  an  oath?  On  what  principle  then, 
do  theologians  undertake  to  tell  us,  that  all  events  are  "  fore- 
ordained," or  unalterably  fixed?  Have  all  events  been 
established,  and  immutably  so  by  an  oath  ?  And  why  should 
theologians  smile  at  our  idea  of  u  fixed  points"  in  the  govern- 
ment of  God?  and  justify  that  smile  by  an  appeal  to  the  ab- 
stract perfections  of  God  ?  Will  an  intelligent  being  swear 
to  every  thing  he  knows  1 

The  transaction  alluded  to,  by  which  Jesus  was  made 
a  surety  of  a  better  covenant,  and  a  priest  after  the  power 
of  an  endless  life,  forms  the  second  instance  in  which  the 
apostle  had  reasoned  on  our  general  principle.  The  cove- 
nant made  with  Abraham  had  been  confirmed  by  an  oath, 
to  show  the  immutability  of  the  divine  "  counsel,  which 
shall  stand."  That  covenant  has  never  been  "disannulled." 
How  should  it  be,  when  it  had  been  thus  confirmed  ?  The 
distinction  should  have  been  familiar  to  the  jew,      Many 


148  LECTURES  ON 

cases  had  occurred  within  the  history  of  his  own  nation  ! — - 
God  had  sworn  that  the  generation  which  came  out  of 
Egypt,  should  not  enter  the  land  of  Canaan— did  they  en- 
ter ?  He  had  in  like  manner  sworn  concerning  Moses — did 
he  go  into  the  promised  heritage  ?  He  sware  unto  David — 
and  was  not  Jesus  of  Nazareth  David's  son?  And  why 
should  not  the  christian  understand  this  as  well  as  the 
jew  ?  Look  ye  to  it,  and  weigh  well  the  idea  that  God 
"has  foreordained  whatsoever  comes  to  pass,"  and  the 
argument  from  divine  omniscience  which  carries  you  be- 
yond the  revelation  by  the  Son,  before  you  permit  your- 
self to  be  troubled  by  such  profitless  metaphysics.  How 
strange  that  all  this  confusion,  and  abstraction,  and  terror, 
should  spring  from  those  who  appear  to  be  afraid  of  no- 
thing so  much  as  an  attempt  to  be  "  wise  above  what  is 
written."  The  argument  of  the  apostle  is  as  much  against 
them  as  is  the  philosophy  of  mind.  The  connexion  be- 
tween foreknowledge  and  foreordination  is  not  indispensa- 
ble, though  the  two  may  be  combined,  for  the  crucifixion 
of  Christ  occurred  according  to  the  "  determinate  coun- 
sel AND  FOREKNOWLEDGE  of  God." 

In  fine.  Reasoning  from  the  perfections  of  God,  ab- 
stractedly considered,  we  may  sustain  the  most  palpable  con- 
tradictions, and  annihilate  moral  science.  I  will  frame  various 
arguments,  that  you  may  see  what  absurdity  may  thus  be 
introduced. 

1.  God  is  omniscient — Therefore,  without  any  reference 
to  human  contingencies,  he  has  foreordained  whatsoever 
comes  to  pass. 

2.  God  is  omnipotent — Therefore,  without  any  reference 
to  human  powers,  or  the  formation  of  human  character  or 
its  own  constituent  principles,  he  may  save  us  if  he  will,  or 
he  may  crush  us  if  he  will — he  performs  whatsoever  comes 
to  pass. 

3.  God  is  infinitely  merciful — Therefore,  without  any  re- 
ference to  personal  sanctification,  he  will  save  all  men. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  149 

t 

4.  God  Is  infinitely  just — Therefore,  without  any  refer- 
ence to  infancy,  ignorance,  infirmity,  repentance,  or  person- 
al virtue,  he  will  destroy  all  men  in  hell  forever. 

One  argument  is  as  good  as  the  other.  Introduce  the 
intermediate  circumstances,  which  have  been  excepted,  and 
all  are  false.  Throw  out  those  circumstances,  and  these 
several  arguments  destroy  each  other,  because  they  are  con- 
tradictory. I  infer  that  no  one  of  them  is  true  ;  and  that 
all  of  them  incontestably  prove,  that  the  human  mind  has 
no  power  to  reason  from  the  abstract  perfections  of  God. 

From  the  whole  it  follows,  that  there  is  nothing  In  God's 
foreknowledge  or  fore  ordination  to  interfere  with  the  uni- 
versality of  the  gospel.  And  we  are  left  free  to  declare 
that  Christ  died  for  all  men  ;  that  his  gospel  may  be 

PREACHED    TO  ALL    MEN  ;    AND     THAT    WTHOSOEVER    WILL, 
MAY  BELIEVE,   AND  BE  SAVED. 


LECTURE   XV. 


Faith  and  Vision — Reason  of  Faith — Mature  of  Faith- 
Operations  of  Faith — Repentance —  Gifts  of  God. 

I  have  endeavored  to  explain  the  nature,  and  to  de- 
fine the  extent,  of  the  mediatorial  institute.  The  oblige - 
tion,  in  which  that  institute  involves  mankind,  is  our  ne>.t 
subject  of  inquiry.  And  here,  as  in  the  preceding  lectures, 
my  remarks  must  be  considerably  modified  by  the  views 
which  theologians  have  advanced.  For,  if  I  should  affirm 
that  the  gospel  is  addressed  to  the  faith  of  the  human 
mind,  and  that  every  human  being  is  required  to  believe 
the  principles  and  facts  which  are  detailed,  then  the  ques- 
tions will  immediately  arise — what  is  faith  ? — are  men 
13* 


150  LECTURES  ON 

able  to  believe  ?  These  are  very  important  questions.  They 
are  important,  if  for  no  other  reason,  yet  because  they  have 
been  so  variously  argued,  and  have  agitated  the  public  mind 
so  much.  It  would  therefore  be  in  vain  to  pursue  our  ob- 
servations, "without  keeping  these  inquiries  continually  in 
view.  To  answer  them,  shall  be  the  object  of  this  as  well 
as  of  the  next  lecture. 

If  Adam  had  obeyed  the  law,  should  there,  in  that  case, 
have  been  any  room  for  the  operations  of  faith  ?  Perhaps 
you  would  immediately  answer,  no.  But  why  ?  When  God 
said — "in  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely 
die,"  were  not  our  first  parents  required  to  believe  him  ? 
If  they  were,  then  certainly  faith  was  demanded,  even  in 
paradise.  And  yet  nothing  is  more  plain,  than  that  the 
scriptures  place  faith  and  deeds  of  law  in  direct  contrast 
with  each  other.  By  the  one  the  sinner  may  be  justified  : 
by  the  other  justification  is  impossible. 

As-ain.  When  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  shall  have  been 
delivered  from  their  earthly  troubles,  and  introduced  into 
their  heavenly  habitation,  shall  they  any  longer  exercise 
faith  ?  This  question  also  may  promptly  be  answered  in  the 
negative.  But  why  ?  Shall  all  eternity  be  spread  out  to 
the  view  of  the  ransomed  ?  Shall  nothing  be  future  to 
them  ?  Or  shall  the  promises  of  Jehovah  not  embrace  the 
future  ?  And  shall  not  the  redeemed  believe  those  pro- 
mises ? 

In  short — (-an  a  community  exist  without*  faith  ?  Is  not 
reciprocity,  or  a  mutual  confidence,  indispensable  to  social 
intercourse  ?  Elevate  the  character's  of  the  individuals  who 
may  compose  a  society,  and  in  proportion  as  that  is  done, 
faith  becomes  strong.  Alter  the  circumstances  in  which 
these  individuals  move,  lift  them  beyond  the  reach  of  temp- 
tation, multiply  their  facilities  to  become  or  remain  vir- 
tuous, and  faith  will  calculate  with  firmer  confidence.  In 
fact,  whenever  we,  and  in  proportion  as  we  do,  get  out  of 
the  range  of  vision,  we  get  into  that  of  faith.     Such  is  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  151 

creature  distinguished  from  the  Creator — "  all  things  are 
naked  and  open  to  the  eyes  of  him  with  whom  we  have 
to  do." 

But  though  what  I  have  said  be  strictly  correct,  though 
faith  may  be  predicated  of  Adam  in  paradise,  and  of  the 
redeemed  in  heaven,  yet  it  is  evident  that,  when  we  com- 
pare the  primeval  condition  of  our  first  parents  and  the  fu- 
ture glory  of  the  righteous  with  our  present  state,  faith  is 
not  to  be  viewed  as  their  distinguishing  characteristic,  while 
yet  it  is  ours.  Because  "  deeds  of  law"  were  required  of 
Adam,  which  are  put  into  direct  contrast  with  faith  that  is 
required  of  us ;  and  the  ransomed  shall  see  God  as  He  is. 
On  the  one  hand,  we  cannot  render  "  deeds  of  laws,"  but 
"faith  is  counted  to  us  for  righteousness;"  and  on  the  other, 
we  do  not  see  God,  but  live  by  faith,  waiting  patiently  "for 
that  we  see  not." — Now,  if  faith  may  be  predicated  of  the 
three  different  states  to  which  we  have  referred,  and  yet 
does  not  occupy  the  same  relations  in  all,  the  true  way  to 
understand  our  own  present  and  immediate  interest  in  it,  is  to 
ascertain  what  is  the  difference  of  those  relations  it  sus- 
tains. In  other  words,  if  the  distinguishing  characteristic 
of  the  primordial  condition  of  man,  or  that  which  may  spe- 
cifically belong  to  his  future  state  when  perfected  in  Christ, 
shall  be  laid  alongside  of  faith  as  our  distinctive  peculiari- 
ty, the  comparison  will  furnish  us  with  the  best  view  of 
faith  itself. 

Adopting  the  mode  of  explanation  which  has  just  been 
commended,  a  very  little  reflection  will  convince  every  one. 
that  the  point  of  contrast,  which  will  thus  be  brought  into 
view,  is  between  faith  and  vision.  Nor  is  there  any  thing- 
unnatural  or  arbitrary  in  the  moral  distinction.  For,  if  a  man 
cannot  see,  what  relief  has  he  except  in  believing? — Every 
being,  in  proportion  to  his  helplessness,  is  reduced  to  a  de- 
pendency on  his  fellows :  and  to  meet  such  exigencies, 
whether  they  argue  perfection  or  imperfection,  is  the  very 
•design  of  society.     Hence,  it  has  been  stated,  that  commu- 


15:2  LECTURES  ON 

nities  cannot  exist  without  faith  :  and  the  facts,  which  hare 
displayed  the  existence  of  faith  in  the  original  and  future 
conditions  of  man,  show  that  it  belongs  to  the  constitution 
of  the  human  mind.  Instead,  therefore,  of  the  mediatorial 
requisition,  which  calls  upon  us  to  believe,  being  a  sovereign 
or  arbitrary  mandate,  it  results  from  the  nature  of  the  case  ; 
and  instead  of  faith  itself  being  a  supernatural  or  extrinsic 
property,  it  belongs  to  the  operations  of  mind  itself.  We 
are  consequently  called  upon  to  believe,  because  we  cannot 
see ;  and  in  so  far  as  we  cannot  see,  whether  we  be  in  pa- 
radise or  out  of  it,  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  we  are  reduced 
to  the  simple  necessity  of  believing.  If  the  present  state 
of  man  involves  or  supposes  any  disabilities,  which  were 
not  characteristic  of  his  condition  in  paradise,  nor  shall  be 
characteristic  of  his  condition  in  heaven,  those  disabilities, 
and  that  too,  as  far  as  they  have  occurred,  are  the  simple 
reason  why  faith  is  now  so  imperatively  required.  We  are 
not  enjoined  to  render  "  deeds  of  law,"  merely  because  we 
cannot  render  them :  neither  is  it  exacted  of  us  to  see,  be- 
cause we  cannot  see.  So  the  command  has  gone  forth,  calling 
for  faith,  because  believing  is  all  we  can  do.  It  is  laboring 
under  this  disability  that  the  Redeemer  finds  fallen  man;  and 
taking  him  just  as  he  finds  him,  the  gospel  is  suited  to  faith, 
as  the  law  had  been  to  vision.  The  sectarian  who  has 
represented  faith  as  supernatural  or  extraneous,  and  the 
sceptic  who  has  declaimed  against  it  as  irrational,  have 
alike  misunderstood  and  misrepresented  this  momentous 
matter. 

Nothing  is  more  common  than  the  ministerial  announce- 
ment, that  faith  is  the  gift  of  God  :  nor  is  there  any  doctri- 
nal disquisition  more  frequently  heard  from  the  pulpit,  than 
that  which  arrays  scriptural  texts  in  proof  of  this  proposi- 
tion. It  would  appear  very  ungracious,  roundly  to  deny  so 
favorite  an  assertion ;  and  yet  if  it  be  true,  as  it  is  generally 
understood,  manifestly  no  man  can  believe  until  the  special 
gift  is  bestowed ;  and  they  are  acting  according  to  the 

I 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  153 

strictest  philosophy  of  the  gospel,  who  are  waiting  to  re- 
ceive it,  and  living  without  regard  to  personal  responsibility. 
It  will  avail  nothing  to  reply,  that  as  faith  is  a  gift,  our  per- 
sonal responsibility  requires  us  to  ask  for  it;  because  the 
prayer  that  seeks  it  must  be  itself  an  exercise  of  faith. 
Either  then  there  must  be  some  mistake  in  the  manner  of 
representing  this  subject,  or  personal  responsibility  must  be 
abandoned. 

Suppose  we  should  allege  that  vision,  with  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  faith  is  contrasted,  is  the  gift  of  God:  what  should 
we  thereb}r  declare  ?  Would  any  one  understand  this^>ro- 
position  as  affirming  that  an  individual,  who  has  the  organ 
of  vision,  cannot  see  ?  Would  it  not  be  apparent  to  every 
one,  that  the  statement  must  imply  that  God  had  given  to 
man  the  organ  of  vision,  and  spread  before  it  the  objects 
which  it  was  intended  to  perceive  ?  For  an  individual,  to 
whom  God  has  given  this  faculty,  not  to  see,  is  culpably  to 
shut  his  eyes  ;  or  to  decline  the  opportunity  of  observation, 
with  which  he  has  been  furnished.  The  guilt  of  not  see- 
ing is  his  own,  because  he  can  see  if  he  will.  Now  though 
faith  be  described  as  a  gift  of  God,  yet  is  it  not  to  be  so 
considered  in  like  connexions  ?  God  has  jnven  to  man  a 
mind,  and  spread  before  it  objects  which  it  can  perceive. 
Then,  not  to  perceive  those  objects,  is  culpably  to  shut  the 
mind's  eye,  and  to  decline  that  intellectual  observation  for 
which  he  has  been  qualified.  The  guilt  of  not  perceiving, 
is  our  own  ;  because  we  can  perceive,  if  we  will.  And  ac- 
cordingly the  unbeliever  is  condemned  for  this  very  reason. 
He  has  eyes,  but  he  sees  not ;  he  has  ears,  but  he  hears 
not;  he  has  a  heart,  but  he  understands  not.  If  he  could 
neither  see,  nor  hear,  nor  understand,  there  would  be  some 
apology — there  would  be  no  guilt. 

Let  us  carry  our  hypothesis  a  step  farther.  Suppose  that 
an  individual,  endowed  with  the  organ  of  vision,  should  as- 
sert, that  the  objects  which  Jehovah  has  spread  out  before 
his  eyes  have  no  existence  ;  or  that  they  are  not,  what  they 


154  LECTURES  ON 

plainly  are.  He  does  not  believe  what  his  own  eyes  see  I 
Let  him  argue  out  his  own  untenable  dogmas.  He  will  be 
learned  and  ingenious  ;  and  when  we  try  to  detect  his  so- 
phistry, we  may,  perhaps,  become  so  much  perplexed  by 
his  artful  refinements,  that  we  may  be  almost  convinced  he 
is  right ;  while  yet  our  own  senses  demonstrate  that  he  is 
wrong.  Cannot  this  philosopher  see  ?  Can  he  not,  or  is 
he  unable  to,  believe  what  he  sees  ?  In  like  manner,  God 
has  given  mind  to  man,  and  has  spread  before  it  objects 
suitable  to  its  perceptions.  The  power  of  perception  as 
cleanly  belongs  to  mind,  as  the  power  of  vision  belongs  to 
the  eye.  Cannot  mind  perceive  ?  We  might  just  as  well 
ask,  cannot  the  eye  see  ?  If  mind  perceives,  cannot  mind 
believe  what  it  perceives  ?  We  might  as  well  ask  whether 
man  can  believe  what  his  eye  sees  ?  As  he  who  cannot 
see  is  blind,  or  has  not  the  organ  of  vision ;  so  he  who 
cannot  believe  is  idiotic,  or  is  destitute  of  the  organ  of  in- 
tellectual action.  This  is  the  direct  conclusion  to  which 
the  general  argument  based  on  the  nature  of  man  neces- 
sarily leads.  It  as  certainly  belongs  to  mind  to  perceive, 
as  it  belongs  to  the  eye  to  see.  And  it  as  clearly  belongs 
to  man  to  believe  what  his  mind  perceives,  as  it  belongs  to 
him  to  believe  what  his  eye  sees.  Destroy  the  eye,  and 
vision  is  destroyed  :  take  away  mind,  and  the  power  to  be- 
lieve is  gone.  It  is  therefore  utterly  in  vain  to  preach  about 
man's  inability  to  believe,  as  long  as  mind  is  conceded  to 
him. 

Perhaps  I  ought,  in  order  to  save  an  apparent  confusion 
of  terms,  to  have  remarked  in  the  outset  of  the  argument, 
that  as  faith,  to  a  certain  extent,  is  to  be  predicated  of 
Adam  in  his  state  of  innocence  ;  so  vision,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent,  is  to  be  predicated  of  us  in  our  present  lapsed  condi- 
tion. I  was  relying  on  the  reader's  own  discernment  in-the 
case ;  on  the  force  attached  to  the  statement,  that  vision 
was  the  distinguishing  attribute  of  Adam's  primeval,  and 
that  faith  is  the  distinguishing  attribute  of  his  subsequent, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENTS  155 

estate ;  as  also  on  the  scriptural  details  which  I  shall  pre- 
sently proceed  to  exhibit.  Mind  belonged  to  Adam  at  first, 
and  therefore  he  had  the  power  to  believe  ;  we  have  the 
organ  of  vision,  and  therefore  we  see  ;  but  by  the  fall  such 
a  change  has  occurred,  and  the  relative  proportion  of  our 
animal  and  intellectual  faculties  has  been  so  far  affected, 
that  while  Adam  at  first  was  placed  in  a  condition  charac- 
terized by  vision,  he  afterwards  was  reduced  by  "  the  weak- 
ness of  the  flesh"  to  a  condition  characterized  by  faith. — 
But  the  scriptural  illustrations  will  make  my  meaning  more 
apparent. 

The  apostle  Paul  remarks — "  We  walk  by  faith,  not  by 
sight:"  thus  putting  faith  and  vision  into  contrast.  He 
further  observes — "  whilst  we  are  at  home  in  the  body,  we 
are  absent  from  the  Lord — we  are  willing  rather  to  be  ab- 
sent from  the  body,  and  to  be  present  with  the  Lord."— - 
Vision  implies  presence  with  the  Lord  :  as  faith  supposes 
absence  from  him.  Were  it  our  privilege  to  enjoy  that 
vision,  which  is  put  into  opposition  with  faith,  we  should 
see  God.  For,  in  any  other  sense,  God  is  ever  present  with 
us  :  and  when  we  shall  realize  that  state,  which  Paul  de- 
scribes as  being  "  absent  from  the  body,  and  present  with 
the  Lord,"  the  apostle  John  tells  us,  "we  shall  see  God  as 
He  is."     Vision  therefore  implies  a  sight  of  God. 

Paul  again  declares — "  Now  we  see  through  a  glass 
darkly ;  but  then  face  to  face  :  now  I  know  in  part ;  but 
then  shall  I  know,  even  as  also  I  am  known."  We  see 
darkly  or  obscurely  as  in  an  enigma,  in  which  one  thing 
represents  another ;  i.  e.  we  do  not  see  the  great  and  im- 
portant objects  with  which  we  are  concerned.  They  are 
represented  to  us  by  way  of  preparing  us  to  see  them,  and 
that  representation  calls  for  our  faith.  Could  we  see  the 
objects  themselves,  we  should  not  need  the  representation, 
and  of  course  there  would  be  no  room  for  the  exercise  of 
faith.  I  mean  that  vision,  not  faith,  would  be  our  distin- 
guishing characteristic. 


15G  LECTURES  ON 

The  Redeemer  also  asserts,  that  "  no  man  hath  seen  God 
0  at  any  time  ;  the  only  begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared  him."  Vision  is  here  put 
in  contrast  with  revelation;  and  revelation,  which  is  the 
divine  testimony,  is  the  great  object  of  faith.  Again  he 
remarks,  in  one  of  his  arguments  with  the  jews — "  not 
that  any  man  hath  seen  the  Father,  save  he  which  is  of 
God,  he  hath  seen  the  Father. 

The  same  general  truth  was  proclaimed  to  Moses,  when 
he  desired  to  see  Jehovah's  glory: — "Thou  canst  not 
see  my  face  'said  Jehovah  ;'  for  there  shall  no  man  see  me 
and  live."  Such  is  the  fact ;  and  it  has  been  thought  to 
be  of  sufficient  importance,  to  be  thus  formally,  distinctly, 
and  frequently  announced. 

In  the  last  instance,  however,  which  has  been  quoted,  we 
have  more  than  the  simple  statement  of  the  fact.  Jehovah 
assigns  the  reason  why  Moses  could  not  see  his  face.  He 
had  gratified  his  servant  as  far  as  was  proper,  and  said — "  I 
will  make  all  my  goodness  pass  before  thee,  and  I  will  pro- 
claim the  name  of  Jehovah  before  thee,  and  will  be  gra- 
cious to  whom  I  will  be  gracious,  and  will  show  mercy  on 
whom  I  will  show  mercy.  Behold  there  is  a  place  by  me, 
and  thou  shalt  stand  on  the  rock ;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
while  my  glory  passeth  by,  that  I  will  put  thee  in  the  cleft 
of  the  rock,  and  will  cover  thee  with  my  hand,  while  I 
pass  by :  and  I  will  take  away  mine  hand,  and  thou  shalt 
see  my  back  parts  ;  but  my  face  shall  not  be  seen.  Thou 
canst  not  see  my  face  ;  for  there  shall  no  man  see  me  and 
live."  Had  Moses  been  indulged  any  farther,  "had  the 
face"  of  Jehovah  been  exposed  to  his  view,  it  would  have 
cost  him  his  life.  But  how,  or  why  ?  Death  is  the  conse- 
quence of  sin;  and  in  what  way  could  it  be  produced  by  a 
sight  of  the  face  of  Jehovah  ?  which  is  the  highest  privi- 
lege of  an  intelligent,  unsinning,  or  redeemed  man.  An- 
gels, said  Jesus,  behold  the  face  of  my  Father,  which  is  in 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  157 

heaven.     Manifestly  there  could  be  no  immorality  about 
obtaining  the  view  ;  and  how  then  could  it  produce  death  ? 

The  history  of  such  transactions,  or  the  effects  of  such 
appearances,  as  are  recorded  by  Moses,  will  sufficiently  ex- 
plain the  whole  matter.  The  people  said  to  him — "  Be- 
hold Jehovah  our  Elohim  hath  showed  us  his  glory  and  his 
greatness,  and  we  have  heard  his  voice  out  of  the  midst  of 
the  fire  :  we  have  seen  this  day  that  Elohim  doth  talk  with 
man,  and  he  liveth.  Now,  therefore,  why  should  we  die  1 
For  this  great  fire  will  consume  us  :  if  we  hear  the  voice 
of  Jehovah  our  Elohim  any  more,  then  we  shall  die.  For 
who  is  there  of  all  flesh  that  hath  heard  the  voice  of  the 
living  Elohim  speaking  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  as  we 
have,  and  lived!"  Moses  himself  said — "  I  exceedingly 
fear  and  quake."  And  are  such  feelings  unnatural?  Are 
not  supernatural  appearances  the  dread  of  all  the  wTorld  ? — 
The  animal  nature  of  man  could  not  have  borne  the  view. 
"  The  weakness  of  the  flesh,"  superinduced  by  Adam's 
sin — for  by  his  sin  death  has  come  into  the  world — incapa- 
citates the  human  being  to  sustain  the  resplendence  of  such 
glory :  and  Moses,  with  all  his  official  honors,  was  subject 
to  the  infirmities,  and  exposed  to  the  death,  wThich  belong 
to  the  lot  of  his  race.  Take  away  this  incompetency,  thus 
brought  about,  and  the  effect  stated  would  not  have  follow- 
ed ;  for  the  scriptures  have  given  us  no  explanation  of 
death,  but  as  it  is  the  consequence  of  sin.  Plainly  then 
vision  is  not,  nor  can  it  be,  the  distinguishing  principle  or 
attribute  of  our  present  condition  ;  and  that  simply  because 
of  the  disability  or  weakness  of  the  flesh,  under  which, 
in  that  condition,  we  labor. 

It  is  here  where  the  doctrine  of  faith  comes  in ;  i.  e. 
by  reason  of  that  same  disability,  faith  is  the  distinguishing 
attribute  of  our  present  state.  Will  the  theologian  turn 
round  and  tell  us  that  man  cannot  believe  ?  What  ?  Able 
neither  to  see  nor  believe  ?  This  is  surely  strange.  Where, 
then,  is  the  remedy  ?  The  controvertist  must  not  retreat 
Vol.  II.— 14, 


158  LECTURES  ON 

into  divine  power  ;  for  God  can  qualify  us  to  see,  as  well  as 
he  can  to  believe.  Neither  must  he  talk  about  consistency  ; 
for  in  so  doing  he  would  yield  the  whole  argument,  see- 
ing that  the  only  circumstance  with  which  God  is  called 
upon  to  legislate  consistently,  is  human  infirmity.  If,  af- 
ter all,  faith  is  above  his  ability,  man  is  no  better  off  with, 
than  he  was  without,  the  remedy.  It  follows  irrefutably 
that  he  can  believe  the  gospel  which  is  addressed  to  him. 

The  term  faith  is  generally  used  in  a  technical  sense ; 
which  sense  it  is  not  easy  to  apprehend  or  explain.  There 
are  definitions  in  abundance,  and  there  has  been  contro- 
versy without  end.  Treatise  after  treatise,  exegesis  after 
exegesis,  homily  after  homily,  and  sermon  after  sermon — 
all  have  been  furnished  to  explain  and  elucidate  this  inte- 
resting particular ;  and  yet,  after  all,  faith  is,  in  the  minds 
of  most  people,  a  mysterious  something,*  which  they  have 
not  precisely  understood.  And  they  are  not  a  few  who, 
despairing  of  acquiring  any  clear  views  about  it,  have 
abandoned  their  research,  and  exclaimed  in  pettish  disap- 
pointment, 

For  modes  of  faith  let  angry  bigots  fight, 
His  can't  be  wrong,  whose  life  is  in  the  right. 

This  difficulty  occurs  in  the  evangelical  use  of  the  term, 
while,  in  the  common  affairs  of  life,  every  body  uses  it, 
and  with  a  clear,  well  defined  idea.  We  read  a  history, 
or  hear  an  oral  relation,  and  talk  about  our  belief,  or  our 
faith,  in  what  we  have  read  and  heard  ;  and  every  one  un- 
derstands us  to  assert  our  intellectual  conviction  of  the 
truth  of  what  we  have  read  or  heard.  An  interchange  of 
information  creates  every  day  universal  excitement  of  feel- 
ing, and  calls  every  body  into  action  :  and  all  this  is  no- 
thing but  the  influence  of  faith,  or  reciprocal  confidence, 
without  which   society  must  be  dissolved.     Nor  is  there 

*  This  term  something  appears  to  be  taking  the  place  of  the  old 
term  mystery.  "  There  is  something  in  God  common  to  the  three  per- 
sons"— "  there  is  something  behind  sinful  acts." 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  159 

any  wretched  fatuity  betrayed  in  this  social  excitement. 
It  gives  birth  to  the  most  vigorous  thought,  and  to  most  ex- 
tensive inquiry.  The  character  of  witnesses,  the  proba- 
bility of  testimony,  and  the  consequences  of  events,  are 
carefully  scrutinized  and  canvassed.  The  fewer  the  legal 
restraints  that  are  imposed,  the  more  intelligent  the  com- 
munity becomes ;  so  that  faith  is  always  the  associate  of 
light  and  liberty,  of  honor  and  benevolence.  Introduce 
legal  enactments  beyond  the  simple  necessities  of  the  so- 
cial compact,  and  in  interfering  with  the  operations  of  so- 
cial confidence,  they  become  substitutes  for  the  workings 
of  mind,  and  the  harbingers  of  conflict  and  strife.  So  that 
this  very  principle,  called  faith  or  belief,  while  it  is  so  well 
understood  in  the  commonest  affairs  of  life,  rises  with  the 
elevation  of  individual  intellect,  and  expands  with  the  ex- 
tension of  our  social  relations  ;  until  it  pervades  the  high- 
est concerns,  in  which  men  can  have  any  community  of 
interest.  In  short,  how  can  any  man  avoid  believing  that 
which  he  knows  to  be  true?  or  how  can  he  believe  that 
which  he  knows  is  not  true? 

But  when  we  become  religionists,  and  undertake  to  dis- 
cuss Christianity,  where  faith,  from  the  condition  of  man, 
from  the  constitution  of  the  human  mind,  and  from  the  na- 
ture of  social  principles,  is  as  necessary  as  it  is  in  common 
life,  we  possess  not  this  clearness  of  view ;  because  Ave 
have  lost  its  simplicity.  They  who  can  believe  the  histo- 
rian, or  the  oral  narrator,  of  any  train  of  circumstances, 
and  easily  giv?  +he  rationale  of  this  mental  operation,  seem 
to  be  at  a  lc  -  to  explain  what  it  is  to  believe  a  historian,  or 
an  oral  narrator,  when  relating  sacred  truths.  They  who 
are  every  day  scrutinizing  the  character  of  witnesses,  can- 
vassing the  probability  of  testimony,  or  predicting  the  con- 
sequences of  events,  with  a  view  to  making  up  their  judg- 
ment, or  forming  an  opinion,  or  exercising  faith,  are  at  a 
loss  to  explain  the  same  intellectual  operation  in  its  spiritual 
relations.     They  can  be  believers,   habitually  and  unre*. 


160  LECTURES  ON 

servedly,  as  friends,  as  merchants,  as  politicians,  as  philo- 
sophers ;  in  all  these  connexions  they  can  display  the  great- 
est mental  force — the  highest  excitement  of  feelino- — the 
wisest,  the  boldest,  the  most  persevering,  the  most  efficient 
action — and  yet  they  fail  to  carry  the  principle  of  these  af- 
finities into  religion.  They  can  believe  their  fellow  man 
in  any  relation  of  life,  but  cannot  believe  him  as  a  chris- 
tian. They  can  believe  God,  as  he  moves  in  his  daily 
providential  transactions  ;  they  can  read  his  volume  of  na- 
ture, as  they  call  it,  with  accuracy  and  care  ;  but  when 
they  hear  him  speaking  as  the  God  of  grace,  they  know 
not  how,  nor  what  it  is,  to  believe  him;  neither  can  they 
imagine  that  his  bible  is  a  plain,  intelligible,  book. 

Now  the  reason  of  all  this  embarrassment  on  a  subject 
which,  in  any  other  form,  is  familiar,  is  very  evident. 
Whenever  men  turn  to  the  science  of  morals,  as  it  is  dis- 
played in  our  inspired  manual,  they  assume,  as  an  incon- 
trovertible position,  that  the  subject  of  inquiry  is  altogether 
a  mysterious  matter.  They  have  been  often  told  so.  So 
the  books  and  the  pulpit  have  declared.  And  who  would 
not  tread  lightly  and  cautiously  on  mysterious  ground  ? 
They  do  not  seem  to  be  aware,  that  the  gospel  has  any  co- 
incidence with  that  which  is  natural ;  but  are  rather  in- 
clined to  suppose  that  it  is  contrary  to,  and  above,  nature. 
Consequently,  the  operations  of  mind  are  not  the  same  in 
religion  that  they  are  in  any  other  branch  of  science  ;  and 
faith  in  Christianity  is  wholly  different  from  what  it  is  in 
our  common  transactions.  Thus  robbed  of  the  analogies 
by  which  divine  truth  is  to  be  illustrated,  and  led  to  aban- 
don the  visible  symbols  which  so  variously  and  beautifully 
represent  it,  men  sink  into  despondency  and  unbelief. 
Could  they  give  up  their  false  assumptions  ;  could  they  un- 
learn the  dogmas  which  have  "  grown  with  their  growth 
and  strengthened  with  their  strength  ;"  could  they  carry 
along  the  unbroken  chain  of  human  interests,  through  all 
the  varying  circumstances  of  life  ;  and  could  they  perceive 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  161 

the  intellectual  identity  of  the  believer,  as  he  examines 
and  apprehends  both  physical  and  moral  subjects,  their  dif- 
ficulty would  vanish.  They  would  find  it  as  easy  to  un- 
derstand faith  in  Christianity,  as  they  do  in  any  secondary 
form  in  which  it  occurs.  They  would  carry  their  illustra- 
tions from  the  fireside  to  the  sanctuary,  from  the  volume 
of  nature  to  the  volume  of  inspiration,  and  understand  the 
doctrine  of  our  moral  dependencies  with  as  much  facility 
as  they  do  that  of  our  domestic  or  political  relations.  Nay 
more,  they  would  find,  that  throughout  their  whole  pilgrim- 
age, in  those  reciprocities  which  they  have  thought  to  be 
natural  and  philosophical,  they  have  been  sustaining  the 
same  moral  operation,  which  they  imagine  to  be  so  verv 
mysterious  and  incomprehensible  in  religion. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  common  theological  discus- 
sions to  which  sectarian  disciples  may  have  the  opportuni- 
ty of  attending,  will  afford  them  no  aid  in  their  retrogade 
movement  after  truth.  From  these  discussions  they  derived 
all  their  erroneous  views ;  and  to  remain  under  the  scho- 
lastic dominion,  is  only  to  perpetuate  their  own  perplexing 
mistakes.  They  will  still  be  entertained  with  the  inju- 
dicious distinctions  that  have  involved  the  whole  doctrine 
of  faith  in  all  its  obscurity  ;  and  have  forms  of  faith  de- 
scribed to  them,  which  are  at  the  same  time  declared  to 
them  not  to  be  faith.  There  is  an  historical  faith — there 
is  a  speculative  faith — there  is  a  faith  of  miracles — there 
is  an  appropriating  faith — there  is  a  reflex  faith — there  is  a 
saving  faith.  The  mind  is  bewildered  by  "  distinctions 
without  a  difference;"  and  the  man  expires  amid  the  ob- 
scurities of  learned  and  ingenious  explanations.  I  wish 
that  all  this  were  pure  fabrication.  Cheerfully  would  it  be 
retracted,  and  the  inquirer  be  referred  to  better  instructions 
wherever  they  maybe  found. 

I  have  been  exhibiting  faith  in  contrast  with  vision :  or, 
to  use  Paul's  language,  as  "  the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen"     There  are  "invisble   things  of  God,"   which   he 
14* 


162  LECTURES  ON 

has  manifested  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  "  understood  by 
the  things  that  are  made."  And  can  any  one  object  to 
such  a  display  on  the  part  of  God,  made  with  a  view  to 
the  instruction  of  his  intelligent  creatures,  who  have  no  bet- 
ter means  of  acquiring  knowledge  ?  Is  there  any  known 
principle  belonging  to  the  philosophy  of  mind,  which 
would  evince  such  a  display  to  be  irrational  ?  Man,  as  he 
is,  sees  a  great  deal  of  the  wonderful  works  of  God ;  is 
this  irrational  ?  Should  he  see  more,  would  that  be  irra- 
tional ?  And  if  he  shall  be  incapable  of  seeing  more,  yet 
is  not  incapable  of  learning  more  by  some  other  method,  is 
that  other  method  irrational  ?  If  by  that  other  method, 
some  truth,  or  a  series  of  truths,  which  he  had  not  seen, 
and  could  not  see,  should  be  brought  home  to  his  mind  in 
clear  and  satisfactory  demonstration,  would  that  mode  be 
subversive  of  mental  philosophy  ?  Truth  is  not  absurd, 
come  in  whatever  form  it  may  be  made  known.  And  if  a 
manner  of  communication  is  used,  without  which  truth 
cannot  be  made  known,  that  manner  of  communication 
cannot  be  absurd.  Yet  this  is  the  attitude  in  which  the 
sceptic  stands  who  laughs  at  the  doctrine  of  faith.  For 
faith  is  the  evidence,  the  subsistence  in  the  mind,  the  de- 
monstration to  the  mind,  of  that  which  is  not  seen.  It  is 
an  operation  by  which  the  mind,  through  the  intervention 
of  surrounding  emblems,  gets  at  the  knowledge  of  things 
that  are  invisible,  in  which  it  argues  from  the  type  to  the 
antitype,  from  the  symbol  to  the  object  symbolized.  Plain- 
ly then  between  faith  and  ignorance,  there  is  no  interme- 
diate state.  For  what  should  the  mind  do  with  a  truth, 
made  evident  by  vision,  but  believe  it?  And  what  can 
that  same  mind  do  with  any  other  truth,  demonstrated  in 
any  other  way,  but  believe  it?     I  see  no  alternative. 

Such  is  faith  m  Christianity.  God  has  made  known  to 
man  certain  matters  which  he  cannot  see.  But  then  they 
are  demonstrated  to  him  to  be  true;  and  when  he  is  con- 
vinced by  this  demonstration  that  they  are  true,  what  else 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  163 

can  he  do  with  them  than  believe  them  ?  An  individual 
sees  his  father  die — what  else  can  he  do  than  believe  that  his 
father  is  dead  ?  Would  it  not  be  folly  for  him  to  doubt  ? — 
But  he  was  not  an  eye-witness  to  the  domestic  catastrophe ; 
he  has  simply  received  information  of  the  afflictive  fact — 
yet  it  is  information  whose  verity  is  fairly  proved ;  what 
else  can  he  do  than  believe  what  he  has  heard  ?  Just  so 
with  regard  to  scriptural  truth.  It  stands  demonstrated : 
and  must  not  the  mind,  to  which  the  proof  has  come  home 
in  undeniable  form,  believe  scriptural  truth  ? — Where  then 
is  the  difficulty  of,  or  objection  against,  the  doctrine  of  faith? 
It  may  be  replied  that  the  truth  of  that  which  the  scrip- 
tures have  stated  is  doubtful.  Be  it  so  ;  but  that  involves 
a  totally  distinct  question.  Faith,  as  belonging  to  the 
philosophy  of  mind,  is  one  thing;  and  the  character  of 
any  particular  matter  offered  to  consideration,  is  another 
thing.  A  man  may  disbelieve  what  he  knows  is  not  true  ; 
or  he  may  doubt  what  he  does  not  know  to  be  true ; 
and  yet  reason  will  bind  him  down  to  believe  what  he 
knows  to  be  true.  If  any  one  doubts  the  truth  of  the 
scriptural  statements,  it  does  not  follow  that  he  may  begin 
to  declaim  against  faith  as  irrational :  but  leaving  faith  to 
possess  its  own  philosophic  attributes,  his  business  is  to  as- 
certain the  truth  or  falsehood  of  these  scriptural  state- 
ments. He  must  scrutinize  the  character  of  the  witness- 
es ;  he  must  canvass  the  probability  of  their  testimony ; 
he  must  follow  out  effects  to  their  causes,  and  causes  to 
their  effects ;  he  must  pursue  the  argument  in  every  di- 
rection, and  in  every  form,  to  which  his  intellect  may 
make  him  competent.  He  must  take  up  the  subject  just 
as  he  would  any  other  matter,  of  the  truth  of  which  he 
desires  to  be  informed.  And  whether  he  believes  or  disbe- 
lieves when  he  has  done,  the  philosophy  of  faith,  as  a 
mental  operation,  remains  undisturbed ;  or  it  is  alike  de- 
monstrated by  his  belief  or  unbelief.  In  the  one  case,  he 
exercises  faith  in  that  which  he  has  found  out  to  be  true ; 


164  LECTURES  ON 

and  in  the  other,  he  withholds  his  faith  from  that  which 
he  has  found  out  to  be  untrue. 

Now,  suppose  an  individual  to  have  instituted,  and  effi- 
ciently to  have  carried  on,  such  an  investigation  into  the 
truth  of  the  scriptural  statements.  After  he  shall  have  ac- 
complished his  task,  he  proclaims  himself  to  be  convinced 
of  their  truth.  Is  he  not  a  believer?  Has  he  not  faith? 
What  else  is  left  for -a  man  under  such  circumstances  to 
do  but  believe  ?  Can  faith  be  predicated  of  a  man  who  has 
no  conviction?  Is  it  not  the  province  of  revelation  to  make 
its  subjects  clear'?  Does  not  the  Spirit  of  God  convince  the 
world  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment? — Take 
the  other  side,  and  suppose  that,  instead  of  all  this  inves- 
tigation, by  which  an  inquirer  has  been  convinced,  he  had 
enjoyed  unclouded  vision — what  would  have  been  the 
effect  in  that  case  ?  Would  it  not  be  conviction?  And 
when  this  favored  individual  should  be  convinced  by  what 
he  saw,  would  he  not  be  a  believer  ?  Certainly  this  idea 
of  faith  must  be  palpable  to  every  one,  as  being  the  moral 
operation  which  the  scriptures  require  of  all  their  readers. 
What  other  idea  of  faith  can  there  be  from  the  nature  of 
mind  ?  Or  what  other  connexion  can  there  be  between 
Christianity,  as  an  intellectual  system,  and  man  as  an  in- 
tellectual being  ? 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  objected  to  the  foregoing  observa- 
tions, that  a  man,  who  has  gone  as  far  as  has  been  descri- 
bed, is  a  mere  speculative  believer ;  and  will  in  all  proba- 
bility stop  short  with  the  conviction  he  has  reached.  His 
heart,  it  will  be  said,  is  not  touched  ;  and  there  are  hun- 
dreds like  him,,,  who  have  never  gone  one  step  farther 
in  the  way  to  eternal  life. 

We  do  not  know  exactly  what  theologians  mean  by  the 
heart.  If  they  mean  by  it  that  it  is  a  part  of  man's  intel- 
lectual nature,  we  cannot  conceive  how  it  is  to  be  touched, 
but  by  such  a  train  of  convictions,  as  this  objection  seems 
to  consider  so  trivial  or  equivocal.    The  probability,  in  our 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  165 

view,  is  that  the  heart  would  be  reached  by  the  process 
which  has  been  suggested  ;  and  that  the  individual  who 
has  advanced  to  the  specified  point,  would  be  strongly  im- 
pelled to  go  farther.  Will  the  objection  imply  that  when, 
for  example,  Paul  says — "with  the  heart  man  believeth 
unto  righteousness,"  he  means  to  say,  that  the  head,  the 
understanding,  the  judgment,  has  nothing  to  do  with  faith? 
Or  does  he  not,  on  the  contrary,  mean  by  the  heart,  the 
whole  intellectual  man1.  There  is  much  loose  talking  in 
religion  about  the  head  and  the  heart,  as  though  they  be- 
longed to  different  systems,  and  in  character  and  location 
corresponded  with  the  anatomical  fixture  of  the  literal 
head  and  heart  in  the  human  body.  Hence  some  teachers 
of  Christianity  undertake  systematically  to  address  the 
head,  and  others  employ  all  their  force  in  assaulting  the 
heart.  Which  of  them  deal  with  man  as  an  intellectal 
being? 

As  to  the  other  part  of  the  objection,  in  which  hundreds 
are  so  summarily  included,  as  being  thoroughly  convinced 
while  their  speculations  lead  to  no  practical  result,  I  should 
doubt  the  facts.  The  process  through  which  we  have  sup- 
posed our  case  to  run,  would  certainly  bespeak  better  re- 
sults. But  men  differ  in  their  views  of  human  society,  and 
often  trace  what  they  see  to  very  different  causes.  In  the 
present  instance,  lest  we  might  be  supposed  to  be  too  much 
prepossessed  in  favor  of  our  own  theory,  we  shall  take  cover 
under  authority.  Halyburton,  whose  "  rational  inquiry  into 
the  principles  of  the  modern  deists,"  it  has  been  said,  re- 
mains unanswered,  makes  the  following  remarks — "  It  is 
much  to  be  regretted,  that  the  bulk  of  mankind  found  their 
principles,  as  well  as  practices  and  hopes,  on  no  better  bot- 
tom than  education ;  which  gives  but  too  j  ust  occasion  for 
the  smart  reflection  of  the  witty,  though  profane  poet, 

By  education  most  have  been  misled, 
So  they  believe,  because  they  were  so  bred. 
The  priest  continues  what  the  nurse  began, 
And  thus  the  child  imposes  on  the  man. 


16(5  LECTURES  ON 

u  Most  part  seek  no  better  reason  for  their  belief  and  prac- 
tice, than  custom  and  education.  Whatever  those  offer  in 
principle,  they  greedily  swallow  down,  and  venture  all  on 
so  weak  a  bottom.  And  this  surely  is  one  of  the  great  rea- 
sons, why  so  many  miscarry  in  this  important  matter. — The 
more  considerate  and  better  part  of  mankind,  in  matters  of 
so  high  importance,  will,  with  the  nicest  care,  try  all,  that 
they  may  hold  fast  what  is  good.  If  a  man  understands 
the  importance  of  the  case,  he  will  find  reason  to  look  some- 
what deeper,  and  think  more  seriously  of  this  matter,  than 
either  the  unthinking  generality,  who  receive  all  in  bulk, 
without  trial,  as  it  is  given  to  them;  or  the  forward  would- 
be-wits,  that  ofttimes  are  guilty  of  as  great,  and  much  more 
pernicious  credulity  in  rejecting  all,  as  the  other  in  receiving 
all." 

The  Master  seems  to  pass  the  same  judgment,  and  to  view 
the  individual  whose  case  we  have  specified,  as  having  at- 
tained to  a  high  condition  of  intellectual  privilege  : — "  That 
servant,"  he  rcnarks,  "  which  knew  his  lord's  will,  and  pre- 
pared not  himself,  neither  did  according  to  his  will,  shall  be 
beaten  with  many  stripes.  But  he  that  knew  not,  and  did 
commit  things  worthy  of  stripes,  shall  be  beaten  with  few 
stripes.  For  unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall 
be  much  required  :  and  to  whom  men  have  committed 
much,  of  him  they  will  ask  the  more."  And  indeed  the 
man,  the  prospects  of  whose  course  are  under  considera- 
tion, if  he  shall  reject  the  gospel,  will  generally  distinguish 
himself  in  abusing  what  he  has  acquired.  He  will  reach 
greater  lengths  in  depravity,  and  rush  to  a  more  fearful  ex- 
treme, than  the  generality  of  those  around  him  ;  because 
he  has  had  more  to  overcome,  and  therefore  feels  a  stronger 
stimulus  urging  him  onward  in  his  iniquitous  career. 

But  why  should  not  a  well  formed  conviction  of  truth 
lead  to  the  happiest  results  ?  Let  us  call  back  to  our  aid 
that  which  has  been  contrasted  with  faith.  What  effect 
would  clear  and  unclouded  vision  produce  ?     Would  it  end 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  167 

in  mere  speculation  too  ?  Or  would  not  the  inducements 
to  effort  be  proportionably  stronger  ?  Taking  the  figure  un- 
der another  aspect — is  light  no  stimulant  ?  The  day  dawns, 
and  all  the  world  is  roused  to  action.  And  will  not  intel- 
lectual light  produce  a  correspondent  effect  ?  Is  truth  an 
inert  matter,  or  has  it  not,  by  its  own  nature,  an  influence 
on  mind  ?  "  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,"  said  Jesus, 
"  they  are  spirit  and  they  are  life."  Instead  therefore,  of 
conviction,  produced  by  fair  investigation,  being  likely  to 
end  in  mere  speculation,  its  natural  tendency  is  to  impel  the 
man  who  has  acquired  it,  to  still  further  exertion.  So  that 
the  very  nature  of  faith,  as  we  have  presented  it  is,  to  lead 
to  action  ;  and  that  to  the  whole  extent  of  the  subject  with 
which  it  is  concerned.  "As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart," 
says  Solomon,  "so  is  he." — "A  good  man,"  says  the  Re- 
deemer, "out  of  the  good  treasure  of  the  heart,  bringeth 
forth  good  things  :  and  an  evil  man,  out  of  the  evil  treasure, 
brino-eth  forth  evil  things." 

I  have  already  intimated  that  there  is  a  very  striking  co- 
incidence beUveen  this  mental  operation,  and  the  nature  of 
truth  itself.  It  as  much  belongs  to  truth  to  excite  the  mind 
to  action,  as  it  belongs  to  the  mind  to  act,  when  excited. — 
The  effect  of  truth  on  the  mind,  is  like  that  of  light  on  the 
eye  ;  and  the  mind  under  the  influence  of  truth,  is  like  the 
eye  under  the  stimulus  of  light.  Truth  excites,  and  the 
mind  is  excited.  They  bear  therefore,  a  reciprocal  rela- 
tion, which  is  both  evident  and  natural ;  and  which  is  sus- 
tained in  all  the  circumstances  where  they  can  possibly 
meet.  There  are  a  thousand  cases,  it  is  true,  in  which  men 
are  commonly  said  to  act  by  intuition  ;  whence  has  arisen  no 
small  controversy,  intended  to  settle  the  philosophy  of  in- 
tuitive truth.  Still,  truth  and  mind  bear  to  each  other,  in 
these  cases,  their  natural  relation.  An- analysis  will  easily 
discover  a  regular  and  accurate  process  of  argument, 
through  which  mind  has  passed,  rapidly  arriving  at  a  con- 
clusion which  has  been  fairly  deduced  from  premises  dis- 


168  LECTURES  ON 

tinctly  perceived.  Or,  if  any  should  deny  the  actual  pro- 
cess of  thought,  in  the  cases  alluded  to,  on  account  of  the 
rapidity  of  the  supposed  operation — which  perhaps,  many 
might  do,  notwithstanding  the  proverbial  quickness  of 
thought — -yet  evidently,  the  whole  process  can  be  readily 
made  out  by  an  after  review ;  however  instantaneously  it 
may  seem  to  have  occurred.  "  It  may  be  difficult,"  says  a. 
popular  medical  writer,  "for  a  person  not  accustomed  to 
reflect  on  such  subjects,  to  believe  that  every  time  his  leg 
is  moved  in  walking)  he  performs  a  distinct  act  of  volition  ; 
but  he  will  be  convinced  of  this,  if  he  observes  the  motions 
of  those  whose  power  of  volition  is  impaired  by  disease. — 
He  will  find  the  patient  hesitate  which  leg  to  move  at  every 
step  ;  and  at  length  his  attempts  to  move  the  limbs  produce 
a  confused  and  irregular  action,  incapable  of  carrying  him 
forward.  The  act  of  expanding  the  chest,  is  an  act  of  vo- 
lition ;  it  is  an  act,  in  ordinary  breathing,  rendered  extreme- 
ly easy  by  the  gentleness  of  the  motion  required,  and  the 
continual  habit  which  renders  it  familiar,  and  is  excited  by 
a  sensation  proportionally  slight ;  but  which  is  as  essential 
to  it,  as  stronger  sensations  are  to  more  powerful  acts  of  vo- 
lition. Thus  it  is,  that  on  the  removal  of  the  sensorial  power, 
respiration  ceases."* 

The  direct  tendency  of  truth  operating  on  mind  is,  to 
lead  to  any  train  of  actions  which  it  may  prescribe  ;  and 
the  direct  course  on  which  mind  enters,  after  perceiving 
truth,  is  obedience  to  injunctions  so  communicated.  The 
attribute  of  mind,  so  called  out  and  displayed,  is  precisely 
the  principle  of  intellectual  vitality,  on  which  rests  the 
whole  value  of  divine  revelation.  By  revelation,  Jehovah 
communicates  truth  to  men ;  truth  appropriate  to  their  na- 
ture and  circumstances  ;•  and  in  a  form  suitable  to,  or  with- 
in the  range  of,  their  apprehensions.  This  truth,  thus  af- 
forded, it  belongs  to  them  to  perceive,  and  having  perceived 

*  W.  Philips'  Treatise  on  the  nature  and  cure  of  Diseases.  &.e. 
Amer.  ed.  page  54,  55. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  169 

it,  it  is  the  nature  both  of  truth  and  mind  that  they  should 
comply  with  its  dictates.  All  the  adjuvants  which  are  em- 
ployed, direct  their  influence  to  the  same  point ;  and  they 
are  the  mere  agents  of  the  Spirit,  in  his  great  work  of  con- 
vincing  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment. 
Nor  is  there  any  arbitrary  or  incomprehensible  influence 
exerted  in  the  manner  of  executing  their  task ;  but  they 
address  to  the  human  mind  a  varied  and  satisfactory  ar- 
gument; — an  argument,  made  up  as  processes  of  ratioci- 
nation are  in  all  other  cases,  and  equally  as  clear  and  con- 
clusive. He  who  is  convinced  of  truth,  which  has  been 
thus  substantiated  and  demonstrated  to  his  own  mind,  is  a 
believer ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  must  act  accordingly. 
So  that  we  may  include,  and  the  scriptures  often  evidently 
do  include,  under  the  term  faith,  the  appropriate  conse- 
quences of  conviction,  or  of  a  full  persuasion  of  the  truth 
believed.  This  is  philosophy.  This  is  scripture.  Just  such 
a  moral  operation  is  called  for  by  the  condition  of  man,  and 
it  is  as  consistent  with  the  grace  of  God,  as  it  is  with  the 
liberty  of  the  human  mind. 

The  effects  of  faith  will  always  correspond  with  the  na- 
ture of  the  truth  believed.  If  a  credible  witness  shall  re- 
cite to  us  a  tale  of  crime  and  infamy,  we  are  immediately 
struck  with  horror.  If  he  shall,  on  the  contrary,  commu- 
nicate some  pleasing  intelligence,  Ave  instantly  become  sen- 
sible of  pleasurable  emotions.  Such  is  the  fact  in  Christi- 
anity.— God  reveals  himself  to  us  as  love.  He  declares 
that  he  has  loved  us  so  tenderly,  as  to  give  his  only  begotten 
Son  to  die  for  us.  He  assures  us  that  he  has  no  pleasure 
in  the  death  of  the  sinner ;  that  he  is  long-suffering  and 
kind — always  waiting  to  be  gracious ;  that  he  will  forgive 
iniquity,  transgression  and  sin;  and  that  whosoever  cometh 
unto  him,  he  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.  It  is  the  direct  na- 
ture and  tendency  of  these  truths,  to  excite  in  the  human 
mind  the  most  delightful  feelings ;  and,  under  the  obliga- 
tion which  they  create,  to  call  forth  its  gratitude  and  love. 
Vol.  II.— 15 


170  LECTURES  ON 

Ought  we  not  to,  is  it  not  natural  that  we  should,  love  that 
which  is  good?  Whatever  is  beautiful  and  excellent,  is  the 
legitimate  object  of  esteem  and  admiration ;  and  we  can- 
not withhold  our  praise  without  violating  nature,  or  betray- 
ing some  obliquity  that  falls  not  within  the  ordinary  or  le- 
gitimate operations  of  mind.  It  is  for  this  very  purpose  that 
God  has  revealed  his  love  in  Christ ;  given  to  its  display  so 
much  interest ;  adorned  its  circumstances  with  so  much 
glory ;  and  identified  its  overtures  with  every  earthly  inte- 
rest that  man  can  consider  valuable,  or  worthy  of  effort. — 
And  what  can  be  more  beautiful  and  lovely,  what  more 
likely  to  captivate  and  charm,  or  what  more  capable  to  dig- 
nify and  bless,  than  the  gospel  ?  Earth  suffers,  angels  mourn, 
and  Jehovah  grieves,  when  man  acts  so  unnatural  and  irra- 
tional a  part,  as  to  repulse  from  his  bosom  such  an  enchant- 
ing scheme  of  love. 

Again.  If  a  credible  witness  should  apprize  us  of  some 
imminent  danger  overhanging,  which  jeopards  life,  estate,, 
and  whatever  we  hold  dear,  we  should  be  instantly  and 
greatly  alarmed  ;  and  would  make  every  effort  in  our  power 
to  avoid  or  escape  the  threatened  calamity.  Or,  on  the 
other  hand,  if  he  should  disclose  something  which  would 
be  greatly  to  our  advantage,  and  which  we  might  certainly 
secure  by  well  timed  and  diligent  effort,  we  should  be  im- 
mediately roused  to  action.  This  illustration  all  men  are 
prepared  to  appreciate  ;  for  it  is  their  daily  employment  to 
avoid  the  ills,  and  to  secure  the  joys  of  life.  And  should 
they  make  like  effort,  and  on  the  same  principle  of  acting, 
in  relation  to  religion,  they  would  meet  their  moral  obliga- 
tions, and  carry  out,  to  its  whole  extent,  the  scriptural  doc- 
trine of  faith.  A  dire  calamity  overhangs  our  race,  filling 
time  and  eternity  with  its  fearful  consequences.  Of  this 
the  scriptures  have  distinctly  and  fully  informed  us,  adding 
in  their  details  the  divine  testimony  to  human  experience. 
They  have  pointed  out  a  way  of  escape  ;  have  proclaimed 
a  Saviour ;  and  promised  everlasting  life.     They  bring  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  171 

divine  agency  into  co-operation  with  human  effort,  and  iden- 
tify human  happiness  with  practical  righteousness.  They 
disclaim  any  interference  with  intellectual  liberty,  and  call 
for  personal  conviction,  designing  thereby  to  excite  to  indi- 
vidual purpose  and  effort.  Every  sentence  which  they 
reveal  or  proclaim,  is  the  testimony  of  Jehovah,  as  a  cred- 
ible witness  ;  and  our  faith  in,  or  our  belief  of,  what  he 
has  said,  should  naturally  lead  us  to  avoid  the  evils  and  se- 
cure the  benefits  of  which  he  has  spoken.  And  thus  would 
follow,  in  all  their  consistency,  and  variety,  and  beauty,  and 
richness,  those  multiform  virtues  and  good  works,  whose 
precise  place  in  the  christian  economy,  its  expositors  have 
found  no  little  difficulty  to  ascertain.  They  arise  as  all 
other  human  actions  arise  ;  and  b}^  a  simple  operation,  with 
which  every  child  of  Adam  is  perfectly  familiar,  and  which 
he  is  exemplifying  every  day  and  every  hour  throughout 
his  entire  life. 

I  protest  I  cannot  see  this  deep  mystery  about  faith, 
which  seems  to  perplex  so  many ;  and  which  calls  for  so 
many  distinctions,  when  a  formal  statement  of  its  nature 
and  attributes  is  attempted.  I  discern  nothing  in  it  but  a 
plain,  easy,  natural  operation  of  mind,  in  which  a  man  be- 
lieves, on  the  testimony  of  others,  what  he  has  not  seen. 
Nor  can  I  perceive  any  reason  why  it  should  occupy 
so  conspicuous  a  place  in  christian  morals,  other  than  that 
as  through  the  sin  of  Adam  we  are  rendered  incapable  of 
vision,  there  is  no  resource  left,  save  to  believe  what 
others  tell  us. 

It  will  still  be  urged  that,  after  all,  men  who  have  been 
and  who  are  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  scriptures,  and  of 
the  philosophy  and  propriety  of  their  doctrines,  do  live  in 
sin.  Be  it  so.  What  then  ?  Will  it  follow  that  the  pre- 
vious elucidations  of  faith  are  therefore  imperfect?  Will  it 
thereby  appear  that  faith  has  not  the  tendencies  which 
have  been  ascribed  to  it  ?  I  judge  not.  For  is  it  not  unna- 
tural and  irrational  that  men  should  act  contrary  to  their 


172  LECTURES  ON 

own  convictions?  Is  such  deportment  honorable  or  consist- 
ent? Can  any  plea  be  offered  to  justify  it?  And  is  not  this 
the  very  reason  of  their  condemnation  at  the  bar  of  God? 
Are  they  not "  beaten  with  many  stripes,"  because  that 
when  they  knew  their  Master's  will,  they  would  not  fulfil 
it?  " Because,"  saith  the  high  and  holy  One,  "I  have 
called,  and  ye  refused  ;  I  have  stretched  out  my  hand,  and 
no  man  regarded;  but  ye  have  set  at  nought  all  my 
counsel,  and  would  none  of  my  reproof;  I  also  will  laugh 
at  your  calamity,  I  will  mock  when  your  fear  cometh." 
To  rebel  against  their  own  convictions  is  then  highly  crim- 
inal on  the  part  of  mankind.  But  if  resistance  against 
these  convictions  is  implied  in  their  course  of  sin,  our  ar- 
gument is  sustained  even  by  the  very  threatenings  of  the 
scriptures  ;  because  the  crime  of  the  resistance  consists  in 
its  being  an  opposition  to  those  very  tendencies  ascribed 
to  faith.  Their  living  in  sin,  therefore,  instead  of  dispro- 
ving the  practical  influence  of  faith,  by  exciting  all  holy 
affections,  and  inducing  to  all  good  works,  is  demonstration 
that  faith  has  that  influence. 

And  even  this  touching  the  heart,  as  it  is  called,  which 
so  many  think  to  imply  a  full  initiation  into  all  the  myste- 
ries of  spiritual  living — does  it  involve  no  deception  ?  or 
never  end  in  a  moral  result  as  equivocal  as  that  which  the 
ardent  sectary  so  familiarly  and  unhesitatingly  reprobates 
as  mere  speculation?  We  live  in  an  age  of  " revivals" 
and  "protracted  meetings,"  of  matins  and  vespers,  of 
weekly  lectures,  and  of  religious  associations  almost  with- 
out end.  And  are  not  all  these,  which  shut  out  the  min- 
ister from  his  study,  and  prevent  the  people  from  thinking, 
designed  to  produce  excitement,  to  rouse  feeling — to  touch 
the  heart  ?  Are  there  no  hasty  purposes  by  which  the  sinner, 
who  has  felt  much,  and  thought  none,  "commits"  himself? 
Even  with  those  who  tell  us  that  "the  saint  cannot  fall 
from  grace,"  are  there  no  falling  away  of  "  hopeful"  con- 
verts ?     Have  these  "  new  measures"  awakened  no  painful 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  173 

suspicions?  called  forth  no  warning  prophet?  produced  no 
controversy?  ended  in  no  evil?     As  chivalrous  as  they  are 
mechanical,  and  as  poisonous  as  they  are  exciting,  these 
movements    are   but  too  painful  an   illustration  of  what 
many  mean  by  touching  the  heart,  and  of  their  gross  mis- 
conceptions of  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     Accordingly 
a  new  proposition  asks  for  "  rectified  revivals;"  and,  admit- 
ting the  value  of  "  protracted  meetings,"  yet  would  restrain 
their  frequency — perhaps  to  copy  out  the  festivals  of  the 
obsolete  Jewish  ritual,  or  the  holy  days  of  a  papal  rule  of 
faith,  and  establish  an  annual  ordinance.     The  standard  of 
piety,  I  greatly  fear,  is  at  present  a  very  childish  sophism. 
The  whole  experiment,  notwithstanding  it  is  sustained  by 
so  much  effervescence,  will  terminate  in  languor  and  cold- 
ness, and  substitute  for  the  morality  of  domestic  and  civic 
life,  the  mere  versatility  and  exaggeration  of  outward  forms. 
In  averring  that  faith  has  a  tendency  to  produce  all  the 
varieties  of  practical  godliness,  I  have  had  no  intention  of 
attributing  to  it  an  irresistible  mechanical  force.     What- 
ever may  be  predicated  of  man,  viewed  in  his  probationa- 
ry character  under  the  government  of  God,  must  be  con- 
sistent with  his  free  agency,  or  it  is  false  in  morals.    There 
may  be  a  thousand  counteracting  agencies,  whose  tendency 
would  naturally  lead  to  practical  ungodliness.     They  are 
equally  destitute  of  mechanical  force ;  and  yet  a  man  may 
feel  their  full  influence,  and  suffer  himself  to  be  misled  by 
them  into  most  criminal  indigencies.  He  may  choose  the 
good  or  he  may  choose  the  evil,  for  God  has  characterized 
him  by  freedom  of  will :  but  his  mistakes  are  at  his  own 
peril.     He  lives  in  the  midst  of  circumstances  where  there 
is  an  intermixture  of  good  and  evil — each  having  its  own 
associations,  or  being  a  property  of  every  part  of  the  sys- 
tem.    He  has  intelligence  to  discern  between  them,  and 
the  gospel  is  intended  to  afford  him  the  greatest  facilities 
in  following  the  one  and  avoiding   the  other,  which  his 
condition  will  admit.     His  knowledge  of  evil  can  exert  no 
15* 


174  LECTURES  ON 

irresistible  agency ;  for  his  knowledge  of  God,  by  the  in- 
troduction of  the  gospel,  is  more  than  equivalent  to  that 
agency.  Yet  he  may  yield  to  that  agency  which  he 
can  resist.  His  first  parents,  though  more  happily  situ- 
ated, became  polluted  by  transgression,  and  angels  them- 
selves fell,  and  were  dealt  with  as  guilty.  Thus  man 
may  fall  at  this  hour,  and  be  condemned  as  faulty  and 
criminal  in  falling.  And  such  is  the  scriptural  view  of 
his  case  in  his  present  condition.  He  minds  the  things  of 
the  flesh,  instead  of  minding  the  things  of  the  spirit.  He 
has  cherished  instead  of  mortifying  his  lusts.  He  has  loved 
the  world  instead  of  loving  God.  He  has  tried  to  effect  a 
compromise  between  God  and  mammon  ;  but  has  failed  in 
the  impracticable  scheme,  and  fallen  a  victim,  as  he  might 
have  forseen,  to  the  lust  which  he  brought  into  competition 
with  his  moral  sense.  He  has  entertained  the  agents  which 
decoy  to  evil,  and  thus  nurtured  his  passions  with  all  their 
hurtful  tendencies ;  and  he  has  done  this  at  the  expense  of 
his  better  convictions  and  his  purer  feelings.  The  opera- 
tion is  common,  and  the  consequences  are  natural.  No 
mechanical  force  is  necessary  to  explain  the  catastrophe. 

The  human  mind  may,  after  having  reached  the  most 
vivid  conviction  of  any  particular  truth,  soon  loose  the 
se?ise  or  impression  of  that  truth.  Pains  may  not  be  taken 
to  preserve  its  freshness.  Its  value  may  not  be  fully  cre- 
dited, and  attention  may  be  withheld  from  it :  and  so  a 
ready  admission  may  be  given  to  other  impressions  than  its 
own,  and  which  may  be  very  insidiously  made.  Its  com- 
panions may  not  be  sought — the  mind  may  not  persevere 
in  its  habit  of  inquiry — a  single  virtue  may  be  thought  suf- 
ficient— and  thus  an  appearance  of  morality  will  cover  a 
formal  treaty  with  lust,  or  serve  as  an  apology  for  indo- 
lence. The  sense  of  truth  is  in  this  manner  lost,  and  con- 
viction has  not  produced  its  natural  results.  In  order  to 
preserve  the  force  of  truth  when  it  has  been  acquired,  its 
bidding  must  be  obeyed,  and  its  influence  be  sustained  by 
practical  effort.     Otherwise  there  will  be  a  total  failure  in 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  175 

the  great  work  of  regeneration,  by  which  alone,  as  being 
an 'entire  transformation,  man  can  be  fitted  for  the  enjoy- 
ments of  heaven.  There  is  a  vast  deal  of  moral  philoso- 
phy in  the  simple  adage — "practice  makes  perfect;"  and 
in  no  connexion  is  its  philosophy  'more  apparent  than  in 
the  cultivation  of  faith.  Faith  leads  to  works,  and  "  by 
works  faith  is  made  perfect."  Without  works,  faith  is  like 
a  body  without  a  spirit — it  is  in  an  unnatural  state — it  is 
dead.  There  is  no  matter  of  wonder  that  a  man,  who  re- 
sists his  own  convictions,  should  soon  loose  this  sense  or  im- 
pression of  truth  on  his  own  mind ;  or,  in  other  words, 
that  he  who  does  not  yield  to  their  influence,  or  follow  out 
their  tendency,  until  his  affections  shall  become  gracious, 
should  lose  the  convictions  themselves,  and  be  justly  de- 
nominated an  unbeliever. 

The  Redeemer  very  explicitly  stated  to  the  jews,  that 
they  could  not  attain  to  evangelical  truth  in  any  other  way* 
They  were  very  much  astonished  at  the  moral  elevation 
which  he  evidently  occupied,  and  seriously  inquired  by 
what  method  he  had  reached  it.  '*  How  knoweth  this  man 
letters,"  they  asked,  "  having  never  learned?"  To  this  he 
replied — "My  doctrine  is  not  mine,  but  his  that  sent  me. 
If  any  man  will  do  Ms  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine. 
whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."  To 
apply  the  principle  of  this  answer — Every  man  has  some 
degree  of  knowledge.  The  very  heathen,  as  we  have 
seen,  have  the  law  written  on  their  hearts,  and  do  b)r 
nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law.  Their  own  con- 
science is  ever  bearing  witness  to  them  ;  and  God  himself 
has  afforded  them  ample  and  varied  exhibitions  of  his 
nature  and  proceedings.  It  is  surely  not  too  much  to  as- 
sert that,  in  christian  lands,  the  elemental  truths  in  evan- 
gelical morals  are  equally  apparent.  If  any  man,  be  he 
christian  or  heathen,  shall  do  the  will  of  God  as  far  as  he 
knows  it,  or  shall  carry  out  into  actual  practice  the  convic- 
tions which  he  cannot  disavow,  he  shall  continue  to  grow 


170  LECTURES  ON 

in  knowledge  to  the  whole  extent  of  his  effort.     The  prin- 
ciple may  be  carried  up  to  the  highest  degree  of  moral  re- 
finement, to  the  greatest  reach  of  intellectual   improve- 
ment, or  to  the  loftiest  assurance  of  faith ;  and  it  can  be  as 
effectually  and  profitably  applied  in  that  condition  of  ex- 
tended privileges.     The  sphere  of  action  has  then  become 
enlarged  ;  all  the  fine  affections  and  more  delicate  sensi- 
bilities of  the  human  heart,   all  the   broad  and  expanded 
views,  and  all  the  magnificent  conceptions  of  the   human 
mind ;  all  the  dependencies  of  human  life,  in  which  mul- 
titudes, unable  to  sustain  themselves,  look  out  for  a  leader, 
desire   instruction  and  call  for  example;  are  then  to  be 
supported  by  the  practical  operations  of  faith.     He  who 
has  received  ten  talents,  must  do  the  will  of  God,  so  fully 
and  extensively,  as  to  gain  ten  talents  more:  at  the  same 
time  that  he  who  has  received  but  one  talent,  moves  in  an 
humbler  sphere  and  with  feebler  ability,  to  gain  one  talent. 
These  moral  agents  cannot  exchange   places ;    but  each 
must  do  the  will  of  God  according  to  his  ability.     If  either 
declines  to   meet  his  own  personal  obligation — it  matters 
not  which  of  them  it  shall  be — he  resists  his  own  convic- 
tion, loses  the  sense  or  impression  of  divine  truth  on  his 
own  mind,  and  retrogades  into  unbelief.     It  is  natural  that 
it  should  be  so ;  and  just  as  natural  as  that  he  should  grow 
in  knowledge  by  doing  the  divine  will.     "  If  any  man  be 
a  hearer  of  the  word,"  says  James,  "  and  not  a  doer,  he  is 
like  unto  a  man  beholding  his  natural  face  in  a  glass,  and 
goeth  his  way,  and  straightway  forgctieth  what  manner  of 
man  he  was."     Christian,  jew,  or  heathen,  will  be  alike 
amenable  to  the  unhappy  issue  ;  for  it  follows,  simply  ac- 
cording to  the  essential  laws  of  human  nature,  which  have 
indissoiubly  connected  faith  with  works,  op  principle  with 
action.     Christian,  jew,  or  heathen,  in  the  very  act  of  re- 
sisting conscience,  will  sear  conscience  ;  or,  not  liking  to  re- 
lain  God  in  his  knowledge,  will  sink  into  a  reprobate  con- 
dition of  mind. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  1?T 

There  is  another  scriptural  subject  which  is  closely  allied 
to  faith,  because  it  is  analogous  in  its  character  ;  and  which 
is,  perhaps,  as  widely  misunderstood.  I  refer  to  repen- 
tance :  and  call  it  up  in  this  place,  both  for  its  own  sake, 
and  on  account  of  its  analogical  attributes.  It  is  not  un- 
common to  hear  of  some,  who  are  alwa}^s  repenting  and 
always  sinning,  or  alternately  sinning  and  repenting ;  and 
it  is  equally  common  to  view  the  convulsions  of  feeling 
which  others  may  experience,  the  many  sighs  they  heave, 
and  the  floods  of  tears  they  shed,  as  being  truly  peniten- 
tial. Indeed  great  effort  is  frequently  made  to  produce 
these  paroxyms  of  feeling ;  and  that  effort  is  giving  char- 
acter to  the  ministerial  operations  of  the  present  age.  Sin 
being  a  great  evil,  abominable  in  its  nature,  and  fearful  in 
its  consequences,  it  seems  befitting  that  the  sinner  should 
deeply  mourn ;  and  that  he  should  so  deeply  mourn,  as 
though  he  had  discovered  himself  to  be  "  the'  chief  of  sin- 
ners," the  vilest  of  the  vile;  a  very  wretch, whose  visage 
has  not  a  lineament  of  moral  beauty,  and  whose  heart  is 
nothing  but  "  a  cage  of  unclean  birds."  This  awful  con- 
viction being  produced,  and  all  hope  being  merged  in  a 
sense  of  self-degradation,  so  that  the  sinner  begins  to  writhe 
in  agony,  and  tells  in  unmeasured  terms  the  torture  of 
his  soul,  repentance  is  supposed  to  be  strikingly  exempli- 
fied. To  such  a  statement  of  the  interesting  subject  be- 
fore us,  I  do  most  seriously  demur :  my  ideas  of  repen- 
tance are  totally  different;  yet  they  neither  justify  sin,  nor 
exclude  feeling :  but  they  are  far  more  consonant,  as  I  be- 
lieve, with  the  condition  of  man  under  the  proclamation  of 
mercy — under  which  whosoeve?-  will,  may  be  saved.  I  do 
not  see  how,  nor  why,  any  man  should  be  brought  into 
such  a  state  of  mind,  who  has  not  harboured  some  most 
diabolical  intentions,  or  committed  some  most  flagrant  trans- 
gressions ;  who  is  not  entirely  ignorant  of  the  calls  of  mer- 
cy, and  therefore,  put  on  his  justification  under  law  ;  who 
has  not  been  brought  under  some  artificial  excitement, 


17-  LECTURES  ON 

which  is  neither  wise  nor  pious  ;  or  who  is   not  a  pitiable 
instance  of  nervous  derangement,  whom  no  argument  can 
reach,  nor  promises  soothe.     This  kind  of  feeling  appears 
to  me  to  be  that  worldly   sorrow    which,  Paul    declares, 
worketh  death :  such  as  distracted  the   bosom  of  Judas, 
when  he  threw  back  in  anguish  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver, 
and  in  horrible  despair  terminated  his  wretched  existence. 
These  ideas  of  repentance,  which  happily  may  be  more 
rare  than  I  imagine.  I   suppose  to  originate  in  an  injudi- 
cious theory,  which  refers  the  sinner  to  law.  as  the  con- 
demning power  under  which  he   lives.     Xow  the  fact  is 
that  we  are  under  grace,  and  not  under  law.     The  call  to 
repentance  is  not  a  legal,  but  an  evangelical  matter.     No 
man  since  the  fall  has  ever  been  under  law :  unless   the 
symbolical  exhibition  of  law,  involved  in  the  Jewish   dis- 
pensation, be  considered  as  throwing  the  children  of  Israel 
into  that  relation.     Change  the  fact,  and  bring  law,  deprived 
of  all  the  modifications   of  the   divine  government  which 
grace  has  introduced,  to  bear  in  its  appropriate  force  upon 
the  human  conscience,  and  I  readily  grant  that  we  maybe 
remitted  to  unmingled  terror,  and  to  the  wildest  distraction, 
•ciate  with  such  a  statement  of  the  law  a  correspond- 
ing view  of  the  divine  character,  and  introduce  upon  the 
whirlwind  the  coming  Judge,  infinite   in  justice  and  al- 
mighty in  power,  instead  of  describing:  the  yearnings  and 
declaring  the  loving;    kindness  of  the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  tumultuous 
horror  is  protracted.     Much  I  fear  that  this  is  sometimes 
done  in  the  most  unwarrantable  manner,  as  though  the  Sa- 
viour were  yet  to  die,  and  God  were  to  be  reconciled.     The 
effect  thus  produced  inspires  the  individual,  who  so  keenly 
suffers,  with  false  views  of  God,  and  sends  him  forth  into 
the  world  to  criticise  and  condemn  his  brethren  by  a  mis- 
taken standard  of  piety :  to  inject  doubts,  where  he  should 
have  offered  consolation  ;  or  to  stand  off  in  all  the  coldness 
of  suspicion,  when  he  should  have  unreservedly  afforded 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  179 

the  sympathies  of  a  broher's  heart.  Such  an  effect  is  un- 
desirable in  every  view ;  and,  in  the  guise  of  evangelical 
purity,  makes  sad  the  heart  of  those  whom  God  has  not 
made  sad.  Repentance  is  evangelical  in  its  character,  and 
ought  to  be  equally  so  in  its  terms.  Thus  it  is  set  forth  in 
the  scriptures,  and  thus  it  ought  to  be  exhibited  from  min- 
isterial lips. 

There  are  two  greek  words  which  the  inspired  writers 
have  used  in  their  various  grammatical  forms,  and  which 
our  translators  have  uniformly  rendered  repent,  or  repen- 
tance.    The  one  signifies  an  uneas}r  condition  of  mind :  a 
state  of  regret  or  sorrow,  for  something  that  has  been  done, 
without  any  regard  either  to  duration  or  effects.     So  Judas 
is  said  to  have  repented.     The  other  word  expresses  a  change 
of  mind ;  and  consequently  of  conduct  or  behavior.     Both 
these  terms  are  used  by  the  apostle,  when  he  remarks  that, 
"  Godly  sorrow  worketh  repentance  to  salvation,  not  to  be 
repented  of."     This  "play  upon  the  Avord  repent"  is  not  in 
the  original ;    which  would  be  better  rendered — '  Godly 
sorrow  worketh  repentance  unto  salvation  not  to  be  re- 
gretted.'*    The  word,  which  signifies   a  change  of  mind,  is 
always  used,  when  the  repentance  under  consideration  is 
called  for.     Manifestly  no  sorrow  for  sin,  however  protract- 
ed or  deep,  makes  up  repentance  before  God.     Something 
more — a  great  deal  more — is  required,  and  that  in  the  most 
positive  and  solemn  terms.     Many  a  man  weeps  over  his 
sin,  and  greatly  regrets  it,  who  has  not  repented,  because  he 
commits  it  still.     His  feelings  have  been  transitory ;  his 
mind  has  not  been  changed  ;  and  until  his  views  are  en- 
tirely altered,  and  sin  is  abandoned  with  a  firm  and  intelli- 
gent purpose  ;  until  his  feelings,  under  the  direction  of  an 
enlightened  mind,  have  become  pure  and  staid ;  and  until 
his  habits  shall  be  correct  and  uniform ;  he  has  not,  how- 
ever deep  his  sorrow,  heavy  his  sighs,  or  loud  his  lamenta- 
tions, attained  to  repentance  unto  salvation. 

*  See  Campbell's  Four  Gos.  Dis.  vi.  p.  3. 


180  LECTURES  ON 

Very  probably  repentance  has  been  misapprehended  for 
the  same  reason  that  faith  has  been  misconceived  :  i.  e.  it 
is  viewed  as  the  gift  of  God  ;  and  therefore  the  intellectual 
operation  it  implies  has  been  slighted.  Christ,  it  will  be 
said,  has  been  "  exalted  to  give  repentance  unto  Israel,  and 
forgiveness  of  sins."  But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
word  Israel  is  a  general  term,  and  is  applied  to  the  whole 
nation  of  the  jews.  And  can  it  be  said  that  repentance 
was  bestowed  as  an  individual  gift  upon  that  people  ?  or 
that  repentance  was,  strictly  speaking,  a  gift  to  them  at  all  ? 
Certainly  not ;  for  that  nation,  instead  of  repenting,  were 
cut  off.  A  more  liberal  construction  must  therefore  be 
sought ;  and  giving  must  be  taken  in  the  sense  of  procla- 
mation. Instead  of  cutting  them  off  instantly,  Jehovah 
waited  on  them  in  much  long  suffering,  calling  upon  them 
by  his  apostle  to  repent ;  and  delaying,  in  order  to  give 
them  full  opportunity  to  repent.  Hence  Paul  reasons  with 
them  on  this  principle — "  Or  despisest  thou  the  riches  of 
his  goodness,  and  forbearance,  and  long  suffering  kindness; 
not  knowing  that  the  goodness  of  God  leadeth  (moveth, 
exciteth,  or  urgeth)  thee  to  repentance  ?  But  after  thy  hard- 
ness and  impenitent  heart,  treasurest  up  unto  thyself  wrath 
against  the  day  of  wrath." 

The  same  expression — God's  giving  repentance — is  also 
applied  to  the  gentiles.  When  Peter  "  rehearsed"  unto  his 
brethren  the  occurrences  that  had  transpired  during  his  vi- 
sit to  Cornelius,  they  rejoiced  and  said — "Then  hath  God 
also  unto  the  gentiles  granted  (given)  repentance  unto  life." 
The  language  is  general,  and  denotes  the  call  of  the  gen- 
tiles, according  to  the  purpose  of  election,  which  had  been 
distinctly  announced  by  the  prophets.  The  great  matter 
of  offence  with  Peter  was,  that  he  had  gone  among  gen- 
tiles. The  inference  drawn  from  his  explanation  was,  that 
he  had  done  right,  and  that  from  henceforth  any  of  them 
might  imitate  his  example  ;  seeing  that  it  was  now  evident 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  181 

that  God  had  conferred  the  privileges  of  the  gospel  upon 
the  gentiles,  as  well  as  upon  the  jews. 

In  like  manner,  Zacharias,  being  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  prophesied  concerning  his  son  John  the  baptist — 
"  Thou  shalt  go  before  the  face  of  the  Lord,  to  prepare  his 
way;  to  give  knowledge  of  salvation  unto  his  people." — 
The  same  kind  of  phraseology  is  used  in  relation  to  Jeze- 
bel— "  T  gave  her  space  to  repent — and  she  repented  not." 
In  fact  this  mode  of  expression  is  common  with  both  pro- 
fajne  and  sacred  writers. 

Faith  resembles  repentance  in  this  respect ;  or  is  the 
gift  of  God  in  a  similar  manner.  The  human  mind  is  pas- 
sive in  neither,  but  is  active  in  both.  And  the  texts  which 
are  brought  to  show  that  faith  is  directly  the  gift  of  God. 
are  like  those  which  have  been  advanced  to  establish  a  cor- 
responding view  in  relation  to  repentance.  Thus — "Unto 
you  it  is  given*  in  the  behalf  of  Christ,  not  only  to  believe 
on  him,  but  also  to  suffer  for  his  sake."  Here  suffering  is 
as  much  the  gift  of  God  as  faith  is  ;  and  evidently  nothing 
more  is  intended,  than  is  implied  in  Peter's  declaration — 
"  for  even  hereunto  were  ye  called,  because  Christ  also 
liath  suffered  for  us."  The  suffering,  which  is  alluded  to. 
resulted  from  the  nature  of  the  calling,  to  which  those  who 
endured  were  required  to  respond  under  peculiar  circum- 
stances. The  mind  is  not  passive,  but  is  called  particular- 
ly to  endure  ;  which  requires  a  great  deal  of  active  energy. 
Such  was  the  duty  assigned  to  the  Philippians — not  only 
to  believe,  but  also  to  suffer.  And  that  duty  was  assigned 
to,  or  this  task  devolved  upon  them,  with  the  view  of  their 
promoting  more  efficiently  the  kingdom  of  Christ ;  so  that 
the  matter  of  favor  figuratively  applied  to  the  means,  be- 
longs properly  to  the  object.  Suffering,  simply  considered, 
is  not  a  gift ;  nor  is  it  so  represented  in  this  passage  ;  but, 
it  is  spoken  of  in  an  official  view.     Being  then  placed  un- 

*  A  particular  favor  has  been  granted,  or  ye  have  been  favored. 
Vol.  II. — 16 


182  LECTURES  ON 

der  those  circumstances  which  called  for  suffering,  the 
whole  text  must  be  interpreted  on  the  same  general  prin- 
ciple :  i.  e.  He  who  has  been  exalted  a  Prince  and  a  Sa- 
viour, to  give,  to  grant,  or  to  proclaim,  repentance  unto  Israel 
and  remission  of  sin,  hath  given  unto  you — hath  called  up- 
on you — not  only  to  believe,  but  also  to  suffer.  And  such 
being  the  call,  you  must  not  decline  it  in  either  respect. 

Again,  it  is  said — "  For  by  grace  are  ye  saved,  through 
faith ;  and  that  not  of  yourselves,  it  is  the  gift  of  God." 
In  this  expression,  the  apostle  is  supposed  to  assert  une- 
quivocally that  faith  is  directly  the  gift  of  God."  But  a 
little  reflection  may  convince  any  one  that  the  expositor 
has  been  too  rapid  :  for  why  may  not  the  relative  refer  to 
the  whole  proposition  as  well  as  to  faith  ?  It  is  the  gift  of 
God  that  "ye  are  saved  by  grace  through  faith."  The 
whole  economy  is  a  divine  gift,  and  particularly  was  so  to 
the  Ephesians ;  because  they,  being  gentiles,  were  now 
called  in,  according  to  the  purpose  of  election,  which  Je- 
hovah was  executing  at  the  time  in  erecting  the  new  dis- 
pensation. This  peculiar  favor,  conferred  on  the  Ephesians, 
was  the  very  subject  which  he  was  arguing  out  with  them  ; 
as  is  evident  from  the  whole  chapter  from  which  the  text  is 
taken.  "  You,"  says  he,  "  who  were  dead  in  trespasses 
and  in  sins,  hath  he  quickened — That  in  the  ages  to  come 
he  might  show  the  exceeding  riches  of  his  grace."  If  any 
one  should  demur  to  this  analysis,  and  assert  that  feith  is 
the  nearest  antecedent,  and  that  therefore  the  relative  must 
necessarily  refer  to  it,  we  must  ask  him  to  go  a  little  far- 
ther, and  to  observe  the  grammatical  construction  of  the 
sentence.  He  will  find  that  the  relative  is  in  the  neuter 
gender,  while  the  supposed  antecedent  is  feminine.  Of 
course  they  cannot  agree  ;  and  the  assertion,  that  faith  is 
the  gift  of  God,  is  not  in  the  text.  Further  remark  must 
be  entirely  unnecessary. 

These  two  matters  then,  faith  and  repentance,  are  intel- 
lectual exercises :  repentance  is  change  of  mind,  and  with 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  1£# 

the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness.  In  view  of  a 
general  argument  the}'-  illustrate  each  other,  as  kindred  ope- 
rations of  mind.  They  differ  as  the  corresponding  phrases 
in  the  old  testament — forsake  your  sins  and  turn  unto  the 
Lord — differ.  The  call  to  repentance,  requires  of  men  to 
alter  their  views,  feelings  and  habits — to  abandon  or  re- 
nounce them,  because  they  are  sinful.  The  call  to  faith, 
requires  of  men  to  accept  the  offers  of  mercy,  and  to  think, 
feel,  and  act  accordingly.  A  compliance  with  these  calls 
imperiously  demands  the  human  soul  to  put  forth  all  its  en- 
ergies— which  effort  being  declined,  or  carelessly  made,  sin 
is  committed,  and  condemnation  incurred. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  call  to  believe,  like  the  call  to 
do,  results  from  the  simplest  attributes  of  man  as  an  intel- 
lectual being.  He  has  been  made  for  faith  and  action. 
There  can  be  nothing  so  deeply  mysterious,  nor  so  awfully 
distant  and  impracticable,  in  a  system  of  evangelic  legisla- 
tion, which  requires  of  man  the  very  effort  that  his  nature 
was  framed  to  produce.  Between  believing  and  doing,  as 
distinguishing  features  of  gospel  and  law,  there  is  no  dif- 
ference, excepting  that  which  arises  from  our  present  con- 
dition as  encompassed  by  infirmity,  when  contrasted  with 
the  original  condition  of  Adam,  as  he  came  from  the  hands 
of  God.  The  simple  reason  why  faith  is  called  for  as  it  is, 
is  that  man  cannot  meet  the  original  requisition  of  works ; 
and  the  very  next  step,  in  the  process  of  his  intellectual 
operations,  is  to  take  him  up  where  he  stands,  and  to  effect 
the  object  of  his  creation,  by  turning  to  the  best  account 
whatever  remains.  He  can  believe  a  truth  which  is  demon- 
strated to  him  ;  and  to  act  accordingly  is  the  natural  result. 
The  present  institute  of  grace  is  as  philosophical  as  the 
original  institute  of  works ;  or  the  gospel  is  as  consistent 
with  human  nature  in  its  present  condition,  as  law  was  con- 
sistent with  human  nature  in  its  original  condition. 

The  question  which  involves  the  agency  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  the  evangelic  objects  under  consideration,  would  now 


184  LECTURES  ON 

demand  our  attention.  This,  however,  is  a  subject  which 
requires  to  be  discussed  by  itself;  and  I  shall  take  it  up 
in  the  next  lecture,  when  a  fair  opportunity  of  exhibiting  the 
general  principles  belonging  to  it  will  be  afforded* 


LECTURE   XVI. 


Subject  continued — Divine  power,  whether  physical  or 
moral — Spirit's  operations — Analogies — Physical  agents 
— Philosophy  of  means — .Mistakes  of  official  men — The 
moral  sense — Popular  hypothesis  examined — Doctrine  of 
Faith  sustained — Individual  application. 

After  having  explained  the  nature  and  operations  of 
faith,  on  the  common  principles  which  belong  to  the  cha- 
racter of  man  as  an  intellectual  being,  the  question — whe- 
ther he  has  the  power  to  believe,  becomes  a  mere'  inquiry 
whether  he  has  ability  to  observe,  read,  and  hear?  or  to 
think,  reason,  decide,  and  act  in  relation  to  any  thing  he 
has  observed,  or  read,  or  heard  ?  We  might  as  well  ask — 
can  the  farmer  plough,  sow,  reap,  and  gather  into  his  gar- 
ner? Can  the  mechanic  handle  the  implements  of  his 
trade  ;  or  ingeniously  contrive  and  promptly  execute  those 
various  combinations,  which  have  both  multiplied  and  suppli- 
ed the  artificial  wants  of  mankind  ?  Can  the  philosopher, 
by  his  researches,  ascertain  the  laws  of  nature,  trace  the 
path  of  a  celestial  luminary,  or  analyse  the  properties  of 
matter  ?  These  queries  are  too  simple  and  plain  to  admit 
any  hesitancy  in  reptying.  And  if  man  has  power  to  do 
all  this,  where  lies  the  difficulty  ?  Is  it  not  strange  that 
there  should  be  any  perplexity  about  such  a  familiar  matter  ? 

But  it  will  be  said,  that  the  argument  maintained  pre- 
cludes all  the  Spirit's  operations,  and  shuts  out  divine  power 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  Ifc5 

from  all  concern  with  the  subject.  If  so,  I  recant,  and  con- 
demn the  whole  reasoning  so  carefully  elaborated.  But  is 
it  the  fact,  that  the  Spirit  of  God  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
operations  of  the  farmer,  the  mind  of  the  mechanic,  or  the 
genius  of  the  philosopher  ?  If,  instead  of  faith,  we  had 
been  so  fortunate  as  to  enjoy  vision,  would  such  superior 
ability  have  rendered  us  independent  of  divine  power  ?  Or 
doth  not  Jehovah  "  hang  creation  on  his  arm,  and  feed  it  at 
his  board?"  Why  then  should  not  faith  be  as  fairly  repre- 
sented in  its  own  place,  as  vision  may  be  in  its  own  place  ? 
Is  diminution  of  power  an  annihilation  of  power  ?  Or  may 
not  man  be  a  responsible  agent,  as  well  as  an  angel  ? — There 
must  be  some  fearful  premises,  both  distant  and  occult,  from 
which  the  conclusions  we  would  combat  arise  ;  or  moralists 
would  never  have  gotten  into  such  unhappy  collision  with 
all  the  plain  perceptions  of  common  sense,  and  the  beauti- 
ful analogies  of  nature. 

Let  us  minutely  trace  one  of  these  analogies.  A  says 
to  B — the  farmer  cannot  plough  nor  sow  his  field.  B  stands 
astonished  at  so  unblushing  a  declaration,  which  every  one 
may  be  conscious  is  untrue,  and  intimates  his  great  sur- 
prise. A  replies — I  made  the  statement  merely  for  illus- 
tration, and  freely  admit  that  the  farmer  can  plough  and 
^sow  his  field.  The  dispute  is  at  an  end.  But  C  steps  in 
and  remarks,  the  farmer  cannot  plough  and  sow  his  field, 
unless  God  shall  co-operate  with  him.  He  is  a  poor  feeble 
creature,  and  his  Creator  must  support  him  every  hour,  and 
in  every  movement ;  and  not  only  so,  but  he  must  bless  his 
labors,  and  by  a  providential  agency  make  the  earth  to  bring 
forward  the  seed  sown  to  the  maturity  of  harvest.  I  know 
it  rejoins  A;  God  sends  forth  his  Spirit,  and  the  face  of  earth 
is  renewed  ;  nor  did  I  intend  to  utter  any  doubt  about  the 
agency  of  divine  providence.  So  I  understood  you,  adds 
B ;  for  the  connexion  and  consistency  between  the  farmer's 
ability  to  plough  and  sow,  and  the  co-operating  agency  of 

God,  is  too  plain  and  evident  to  be  denied.     And  in  fact 
16* 


186  LECTURES  OJV 

the  farmer  ploughs  and  sows,  because  he  knows  that  God 
sustains  him,  and  will  bless  his  labors. — All  parties  are 
agreed,  and  the  controversy  is  over.  And  thus  all  the  world 
talk  about  ability  and  inability ;  and  say  what  can,  and  what 
cannot  be  done,  with  well  defined  ideas,  and  in  perfect  har- 
mony. No  evil  passions  are  engendered  ;  no  harsh  lan- 
guage is  used  ;  every  one  does  his  duty  in  his  own  place  ; 
and  the  beautiful  system  which  God  has  formed,  is  pre- 
served in  regular  and  uniform  operation. 

I  desire  to  be  as  plainly  understood  in  my  ideas  of  faith. 
When  I  say  that  man  can  believe,  I  have  not  a  solitary 
doubt  with  regard  to  the  Spirit's  agency  or  an  overruling 
providence.  On  the  contrary,  the  promises  of  the  gospel 
guaranty  to  us  this  divine  agency ;  and  the  believer 
"works  out  his  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling," 
because  he  knows  that  "  God  works  in  him,  both  to  will 
and  to  do,  of  his  own  good  pleasure  ;"  just  as  the  farmer 
goes  forth  to  plough  and  sow,  knowing  that  God  will  sus- 
tain his  being  and  prosper  his  labors.  I  mean  nothing  more, 
nor  any  thing  less.  Dropping  technical  terms,  I  use  words 
in  their  plain  aud  common  acceptation,  and  suppose  man 
in  his  moral  relations  to  be  the  same  creature  that  he  is  in 
other  relations.  And  if  christians  in  general  would  adopt 
this  course,  they  would  soon  understand  Christianity,  and 
understand  one  another.  The  scriptures  speak  in  this  man- 
ner *-  and  appeal  to  the  analogies  of  nature,  which  no  one 
mistakes,  to  illustrate  their  meaning. 

To  return  to  the  analogy,  and  change  the  point  of  argu- 
ment.—.^ says  to  B,  the  farmer  must  plough  and  sow  his 
field.  He  has  no  choice  in  the  case.  B  is  as  much  aston- 
ished as  before,  and  again  expresses  his  surprise.  Jl  must 
again  recant,  for  the  proposition  is  too  monstrous  to  be  sus- 
tained. And  C  can  have  nothing  to  object;  for  here  the  equiv- 
ocal doctrine  of  election  would  be  out  of  place,  though  one 
man  is  rich,  and  another  is  poor.  No  decree  beyond  the  com- 
mon laws  of  nature  is  suspected ;  and,  as  the  free  agency 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  187 

of  the  farmer  stands  undisputed,  all  ideas  of  compulsion 
are  cheerfully  given  up.  Some  individual,  laboring  under 
a  pitiable  obliquity,  or  yielding  to  the  prejudice  of  a  griev- 
ously faulty  education,  or  anxiously  endeavoring  to  invent 
an  apology  for  criminal  indolence,  might  frame  an  objec- 
tion, whose  apparent  ingenuity  would  please  himself.  But 
all  the  world  would  smile  at  the  petty  conceit,  and,  having 
no  time  to  wraste  on  the  freaks  of  abstract  theory,  would 
industriously  pursue  their  course ;  while  he  himself,  not 
capricious  enough  to  carry  out  his  own  system,  would  eat 
his  daily  bread  and  enjoy  his  nightly  rest,  as  though  he 
knew  that  effects  had  causes,  or  that  ends  were  to  be  ac- 
complished by  means.  The  truth  of  the  case  is  simply  this. 
The  farmer  is  fully  aware  that  labor  is  the  common  lot  of 
humanity,  and  that  unalloyed  good  is  not  to  be  attained  in 
this  world  ;  that,  if  he  does  not  plough  and  sow,  he  can 
reap  no  crop,  for  the  beams  of  the  sun  and  showers  of  rain 
will  not  supply  his  lack  of  service  :  that  he  must  gain  bread 
by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  or  starve  ;  that  he  must  provide 
for  his  own  house,  or  make  his  wife  a  widow,  and  his  chil- 
dren fatherless,  before  he  descends  to  the  grave ;  that  to 
neglect  his  employment,  and  to  "follow  vain  persons,"  is 
to  show  himself  "  void  of  understanding,"  while  his  field 
is  "all  grown  over  with  thorns,  and  nettles  hath  covered  the 
the  face  thereof;"  and  that  his  indolence  will  convert  him 
into  a  wretched  and  degraded  pauper,  reduce  him  to  infamy 
and  crime,  prepare  for  him  an  inglorious  death  and  a  dis- 
honored grave,  and  usher  him  into  the  presence  of  an  an- 
gry God  only  to  banish  him  to  hell.  These  are  spirit-stir- 
ring reflections.  The}'  inspire  him  with  motives  both  ra- 
tional and  powerful,  and  he  neither  "  observeth  the  wind," 
nor  "  regardeth  the  clouds,"  but  goeth  forth  to  his  labor 
with  the  morning  dawn,  gathers  his  fruits  in  their  seasons, 
and  is  "satisfied  with  bread."  Reverse  the  picture,  and 
the  disastrous  consequences  of  which  he  had  been  distinct- 
ly forewarned,  come  in  regular  and  rapid  and  certain  sue- 


188  LECTURES  ON 

cession.  His  own  conscience  accuses  and  condemns  ;  and 
all  the  world  affirms  the  decree,  pronouncing  a  "judgment 
that  will  not  linger, "  and  "a  damnation  that  will  not  slum- 
ber." 

Just  so  do  I  understand  the  matter  in  reference  to  reli- 
gion. The  christian  is  a  moral  farmer,  and  is  called  to 
plough  and  sow,  if  he  desires  to  reap.  A  thousand  motives, 
involving  honor  and  happiness,  both  individual  and  social ; 
extending  tn  their  application  both  to  time  and  eternity  ; 
and  which  he  can  comprehend  and  appreciate,  agitate 
his  mind.  His  soul  feels  their  power ;  for  they  are  not 
mere  words  whose  sound  has  fallen  on  his  ear,  but  "  they 
are  spirit  and  life,"  and  have  reached  his-inmost  mind.  He 
must  obey  their  impulse  and  live,  or  resist  and  perish. 
There  is  no  other  alternative.  God,  in  much  forbearance, 
is  ever  varying  the  form  in  which  these  interesting  truths 
are  presented ;  or,  multiplying  and  simplifying  their  illus- 
trations, is  waiting  for  a  decision ;  or,  inducing  a  review 
when  a  false  decision  is  made,  and  appealing,  while  the 
moral  sense  is  not  entirely  stupified,  he  appears  to  calculate 
on  its  last  and  least  remains.  Angels  have  tuned  their  harps, 
and  wait  to  rejoice.  Ministers,  parents,  a  ransomed  church, 
wait.  How  can  the  sinner  resist  ?  Or  resisting,  say — let 
common  sense  speak — is  he  not  guilty — fearfully  guilty  ? 

It  appears  to  me,  that  theologians  have  failed  satisfacto- 
rily to  illustrate  the  subject  of  divine  power,  in  view  of  its 
mediatorial  operations,  or  in  respect  of  its  consistency  with 
human  free  agency,  because  they  have  never  considered, 
or  have  lost  sight  of,  that  which  constitutes  its  peculiarity. 
Speaking  by  one  of  his  prophets,  Jehovah  uses  this  sin- 
gular language: — "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by 
my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  There  is  a  distinction 
between  might  or  power  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord. 
You  may  then  make  a  difference  between  physical  power 
and  moral  influence  if  you  please,  and  as  multitudes  do ; 
but  remember  that  Jehovah  speaks  of  acting  by  his  Spirit 


Moral  government,  jssi 

as  distinguished  from  power.  The  scriptural  reference,  in 
relation  to  this  matter,  is  uniformly  to  the  agency  of  this 
Spirit;  and  if  you  predicate  power  of  that  agency >  as  in- 
spired  writers  have  unquestionably  done,  you  must  not  for- 
get the  distinction  which  has  been  so  pointedly  expressed  * 
This  fact,  that  Jehovah  acts  by  his  Spirit — meaning,  re- 
collect, not  might  or  power — is  the  peculiarity  to  which  I 
adverted  ;  and  its  force  must  be  fully  and  accurately  esti-» 
mated,  before  the  subject  in  hand  can  be  understood. 

When  I  remarked,  that  theologians  appear  to  have  lost 
sight  of  this  peculiarity,  it  was  not  intended  to  assert  that 
they  do  not  refer  to  the  agency  of  the  Spirit,  in  their  spe- 
culations on  divine  power.  They  are  exceedingly  free 
and  abundant  in  their  allusions  to  the  divine  Spirit  ;  in 
their  quotations  of  biblical  phrase  which  proclaims  his  ope- 
rations; in  their  prayers  for  his  outpouring,  and  in  their 
praise  for  results  which  they  have  been  impelled  to  ascribe 
to  his  presence  and  goodness.  But  after  all,  they  are  con- 
tending whether  it  is  physical  or  moral  power  which  is  ex- 
erted ;  are  laboring  to  sustain  their  dogmas  as  consistent 
with  human  free  agency ;  and,  when  they  have  finished 
their  lucubrations,  they  retreat  into  mystery  as  their  last 
resort.  You  feel  that  not  only  the  subject  is  not  explained, 
but  that  the  explanation  they  profess  to  give,  involves  you 
in  fresh  difficulties;  and  readily  ask — "  Why  then  are  not 
all  men  saved  r" — "  Must  not  all  men  be  saved  ?" — "  Is  it 
the  sinner's  fault  if  he  should  not  be  saved,  seeing  that  his 
salvation  depends  on  an  exercise  of  divine  power,  which 
is  both  sovereign  and  irresistible  ?"  Is  it  any  matter  of  won- 
der, that  a  system  of  divine  policy,  like  that  involved  in  the 
preceding  statement,  should  perplex  the  world  ? 

But  how,  I  pray  you,  could  theologians  help  themselves? 
Their  doctrine  of  power  is  the  legitimate  and  necessary 
result  of  their  view  of  the  agent  who  exerts  the  power. 
Their  idea  of  trinity  leads  them  to  represent  the  agent  as 
a  distinct  divine  person.     Means  may  be  used,  but  means 


190  LECTURES  ON 

are  insufficient,  and  the  agent  must  proceed  to  act  with 
his  own  hands.  Of  course  he  exerts  his  physical  agen- 
cy, and  must  accomplish  a  physical  result.  With  the 
premises  which  they  have  adopted,  these  commentators  are 
perfectly  right  in  referring  the  mediatorial  operation  to  di- 
vine omnipotence.  When  that  agent  calls  for  the  use  of 
secondaiy  means,  they  are  right  again  in  insisting  on  the 
use  of  those  means,  because  as  a  sovereign  he  does  what 
he  pleases  ?  And  when  they  tell  the  world  that  they  can- 
not explain  the  consistency  between  these  two — that  it  is 
a  mystery — that  we  must  wait  until  we  get  into  the  next 
world — they  are  right  a  third  time  ;  for  the  human  mind 
cannot  reconcile  such  discrepancies.  Their  error  is  in 
the  start.  The  first  step  taken  is  wrong.  If  the  Spirit  is 
not  a  distinct  divine  person,  the  whole  argument,  which 
hinges  on  the  supposition  that  he  is,  is  immediately  chang- 
ed ;  and  the  popular  idea  of  power  must  be  dropped. 

Let  us  call  back  the  simile — the  image — by  which  this  sub- 
ject was  illustrated  on  a  former  occasion,*  and  which  Paul  so 
unequivocally  employs,  when  he  says — "  What  man  know- 
eth  the  things  of  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in 
him?  Even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the 
Spirit  of  God."t  When  you  would  explain  the  operations 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  you  must  take  up  the  only  compe- 
tent analogy  which  is  afforded  you,  and  that  is  to  be  found 
in  the  operations  of  the  spirit  of  man.  You  have  no 
reason  to  proceed  timidly  in  the  illustration  ;  for  an  in- 
spired apostle  has  taught  you  to  employ  the  image ;  and 
you  will  find  yourselves,  as  you  proceed,  getting  out  into 
light  and  truth.  Now  when  you  speak  of  a  man  acting  on 
the  minds  of  his  fellow  men,  do  you  mean  that  he  is  exerting 
physical  power?  or  do  you  intend  to  convey  the  idea  of  what 
you  call  moral  influence  ?  When  a  man  is  bodily  present 
to  accomplish  some  particular  design  by  his  own  hands,  or 
when  being  bodily  absent,  it  is  executed  by  others  under 

*  See  Lee.  IV.  f  l  Cor.  ii.  12, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  ]91 

the  influence  of  his  spirit,  is  there  any  difference  ?  Which 
of  these  is  physical,  and  which  is  moral  power  ?  When 
Paul  says  to  the  Corinthians — "  I  verily,  as  absent  in  body, 
but  present  in  spirit,  have  judged  already,  as  though  I 
were  present,  concerning  him  that  hath  so  done  this  deed  ; 
in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when  ye  are  gather- 
ed together,  and  my  spirit,  &c." — when  Paul  brought  his 
apostolic  influence  thus  to  bear  upon  the  case  involved, 
was  it  physical  or  moral  ?  When  an  author's  spirit  pervades 
his  book,  and  through  that  agency  convinces  his  reader  by 
his  argument  and  illustrations,  what  kind  of  influence  does 
he  exert  ?  When  a  father,  going  from  his  house,  is  said  to 
leave  his  spirit  behind  him,  what  is  the  character  of  that 
controlling  influence  which  is  felt  by  his  family  ?  is  it  phy- 
sical or  moral?  When  Solomon  says — "  Where  the  word 
of  a  king  is,  there  is  power  :  and  who  may  say  unto  him, 
what  doestthou?"  what  kind  of  power  is  it — physical  or 
moral?  And  when  the  Son  of  man,  "as  a  man  taking  afar 
journey,  who  left  his  house,  and  gave  authority  to  his  sei- 
vants,  and  to  every  man  his  work,  and  commanded  the 
porter  to  watch,"  they  not  knowing  when  the  master  of  the 
house  should  return — when  thus  Jesus  ascended  on  high  and 
promised  that  his  Spirit  should  dwell  in  the  church,  to 
convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness  and  of  judg- 
ment, what  kind  of  influence  is  exerted?  is  it  physical  or 
moral  ?  When  that  Spirit  acts  by  the  word  of  truth — 
written  or  preached,  what  power — physical  or  moral — 
will  you  expect  him  to  exert? — Can  it  be  personal,  when 
the  person  is  removed,  and  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  alone 
is  felt  ?  Yet  it  must  be  personal,  if  the  agent  be  a  person, 
and  be  personally  present. 

Again.  On  the  principle  of  illustration  thus  exhibited, 
can  you  feel  any  difficulty  in  respect  of  human  free  agen- 
cy ?  Were  the  Corinthians  not  free  agents  wThen,  by  Paul's 
direction  and  in  communion  with  his  spirit,  they  excom- 
municated the  individual  concerning  whom  he  wrote?     Is 


192  LECTURES  ON 

the  reader  destitute  of  free  agency  when  he  feels  the  spirit 
of  the  author  whose  book  he  reads,  and  by  whose  argu- 
ment he  has  been  convinced  ?  Have  children  lost  their 
free  agency,  because  they  feel  parental  influence,  though 
their  father  is  not  personally  present?  When  the  spirit  of 
the  community  has  chosen  its  official  agents,  and  estab- 
lished various  institutions  for  the  purpose  of  government, 
do  the  citizens  forfeit  their  free  agency  ?  Is  it  folly  to  talk 
any  longer  of  liberty  ?  Or  does  free  agency  imply  the 
desecration  of  truth  and  righteousness,  and  the  means  by 
which  they  are  held  up  to  observation  ?  Is  there  any  mys- 
tery about  the  political  or  intellectual  operation  ?  Must  we 
wait  to  escape  from  this  state  of  being,  where  we  see  as 
"  through  a  glass  darkly,"  and  to  enter  into  the  loftier  re- 
lations and  the  clearer  atmosphere  of  a  better  world,  where, 
with  the  refined  organs  of  a  spiritual  body,  we  shall  see 
as  we  are  seen,  before  we  can  understand  the  philosophy 
of  political  ethics  ?  If  these  things  are  plain  now,  and 
create  no  perplexity  to  the  philosopher  or  the  moralist, 
why  should  we  feel  any  difficulty  in  view  of  our  free 
agency  in  christian  morals,  or  because  God  "strengthens 
us  with  all  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the  inner  man  ?."  This 
exposition  of  divine  power,  which  so  happily  corresponds 
with  intellectual  fellowship,  afforded  in  all  other  social  re- 
lations, leaves  the  human  mind  precisely  in  that  condition 
where,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  it  ought  to  be  left; 
where  every  thinking  man  perceives  it  to  be  ;  and  where 
no  confusion,  nor  uneasiness,  nor  uncertainty  can  be  pro- 
duced. The  principle  which  so  entirely  clears  up  the 
subject  of  human  liberty,  and  yet  brings  in  a  divine  influ- 
ence so  salutary  and  efficient,  while  no  objections  can  be 
reasonably  made,  must  be  true. 

It  may  enable  you  more  fully  to  appreciate  the  ar- 
gument of  the  preceding  paragraphs,  if  I  remind  you  of 
the  distinction  beiveen  soul  and  spirit  in  man,  which  we 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  193 

before  made.*  Spi-rit  is  the  intellectual  part  of  man,  ir- 
respective of  its  bodily  connexions.  Soul  is  that  same 
intellectual  part  of  man  in  its  embodied  state.  Soul,  when 
predicated  of  Jehovah,  always  refers  to  that  divine  person 
which  was  constituted  at  first  by  the  assumption  of  form, 
and  was  denominated  the  Word  ;  which  Word  was  after- 
wards "made  flesh,"  and  dwelt  among  us  in  "the  man 
Christ  Jesus,"  affording  thereby  to  mankind  an  exact  image 
of  the  divine  Person.  Such  is  the  scriptural  testimony. 
Having  the  distinction  again  before  you,  you  may  now 
observe  that  this  divine  power,  which  we  have  under  con- 
sideration, is  not  ascribed  to  the  soul  but  to  the  spirit  of 
of  God.  Search  and  see.  You  cannot  find  any  allusions 
■of  the  kind,  excepting  under  the  Jewish  dispensation,  when 
Jehovah  presided,  so  to  speak,  in  his  own  proper  Per- 
son, or  as  Creator  and  Lawgiver.  Our  concern  is  with 
the  mediatorial  institute,  where  the  reference  is  to  Jeho- 
vah's Spirit.  The  exception  which  thus  occurred  under  the 
former  economy,  when  you  duly  consider  the  nature  and 
objects  of  that  economy,  confirms  the  idea  now  advanced; 
and  leaves  us  to  interpret  the  divine  influence  by  the  laws 
of  spirit,  as  it  is  distinguished  from  soul.  It  cannot  be 
otherwise,  for  we  cannot  see  God  and  live.  The  original 
manifestation  is  inappropriate  to  our  present  condition  as  sin- 
ners ;  and,  therefore,  when  a  second  manifestation  is  afford- 
ed, a  second  divine  Person  must  be  constituted  ;  and  thus 
two  Gods  would  be  revealed  to  us,  or  God  must  act  ac- 
cording to  the  pure  philosophy  of  such  a  transaction — by 
his  Spirit.  Hence  the  Redeemer  told  his  disciples  that 
when  the  Spirit  should  come,  he  would  not  speak  of  him- 
self. 

It  is  precisely  here  where  the  whole  scheme  and  doctrine 
of  means  arise.     Theologians  admit — they  most  strenu- 
ously contend  for — "  the  use  of  means."     A  man  who 
cannot  accomplish  in  his  own  proper  person,  or  by  hii 
*See  Lee.  V.  Lee.  IX. 
Vol.  II.— 17 


194  LECTURES  ON 

own  individual  acts,  an  object  he  has  in  view,  employs  se- 
condary agencies.  I  say  secondary:  for  as  they  are  era- 
ployed  by  him,  he  is  the  primary  agent.  His  spirit  moves, 
animates,  controls  them.  They  are  his  means. — A  philo- 
sopher wishes  to  instruct  the  community.  His  voice  can- 
not be  heard  very  far.  His  strength  will  not  hold  out  long. 
His  argument  may  be  dense,  and  require  patient  and  care- 
ful study.  His  object  may  be  to  reach  higher  classes  of 
mind,  that  they,  in  their  turn,  may  instruct  the  lower 
classes.  The  explanations  he  has  to  make,  the  experi- 
ments he  wishes  to  describe,  the  doctrines  he  is  very  de- 
sirous to  sustain,  he  designs  shall  live  after  he  has  gone  to 
his  fathers.  Here  is* a  long  series  of  effects  which  may 
place  him  by  the  side  of  Aristotle,  Plato,  and  a  multitude 
of  others.  It  is  obvious  that  he  cannot  accomplish  all  this 
in  his  own  proper  person.  He  writes  a  book,  which  is 
read  by  thousands.  Many  espouse  his  doctrines,  and  use 
his  volume  as  a  manual  for  the  instruction  of  others — you 
cannot  number  up  all  the  agencies  which  are  thus  employ- 
ed. And  these  are  his  means.  His  spirit  animates  them 
all.  He  has  put  them  all  in  motion ;  and  by  them,  like 
Abel,  though  dead,  he  yet  speaks.  This  species  of  intel- 
lectual operation  pervades  social  life  in  all  its  departments. 
All  the  different  branches  of  science — moral,  political,  le- 
gal, medical,  mechanical — are  now  taught  as  they  were 
exhibited  by  the  master  spirits  of  some  preceding  ages. 
Nay,  you  cannot  start  aside  from  the  beaten  tract  without 
being  reviled  for  your  heresy,  lashed  for  your  presump- 
tion, and  avoided  for  your  impiety.  The  glory  of  great 
names,  the  authority  of  precedents,  the  infallibility  of  the 
fathers — under  such  "tutors  and  governors,"  like  dutiful 
children,  we  all  live.  The  example  which  I  offer  you  in 
illustration  "must  needs"  be  perfectly  understood. 

•Let  us  delineate  another.  A  prince  cannot  be  person- 
ally present  in  all  parts  of  his  dominion  at  once.  There 
is  no  sense  in  which  ubiquity  can  be  predicated  of  him. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  195 

unless  it  be  that  his  spirit  is  every  where  felt  by  the  in- 
strumentality of  the  secondary  agents  he  employs — his 
officers,  laws,  institutions,  courts,  military  or* naval  estab- 
lishments. Thus,  and  thus  alone,  he  sustains  his  adminis- 
tration. All  things  go  on  according  to  his  wishes,  as 
though  he  were  present.  He  will  impress  his  image  upon 
his  country — upon  his  age — upon  generations  to  come. 
Alexander,  Caesar,  Washington,  Bounaparte,  though,  dead, 
stilL  live  among  men,  like  Aristotle,  Plato,  Newton,  Bacon, 
and  a  host  of  others.  Here  again  every  thing  is  plain  and 
easy  to  be  apprehended. 

•  On  this  principle,  why  may  not  the  Creator  of  the 
world,  though  he  be  not  visible  to  the  eye  of  his  creatures, 
move  and  reign  among  them  by  his  Spirit  ?  Creation  is  his 
store-house  of  means — a  tissue  of  secondary  agencies  which 
he  employs.  Why  may  not  the  Redeemer  thus  rule  on 
earth — the  Lord  of  glory  sustaining  his  evangelic  admin- 
istration by  his  Spirit  ?  He  is  no  more  visibly  dwelling 
anions:  us — we  henceforth  know  him  no  more  after  the 
flesh.  If  he  reigns  at  all,  it  must  be  by  his  Spirit.  There 
is  no  other  line  of  policy  to  be  pursued.  And  commentators 
on  the  mediatorial  government  must  either  freely  and  fully 
admit  the  whole  doctrine,  or  give  up  the  subject.  They 
do  not  admit  the  doctrine  when  they  descant,  as  they  often 
do,  upon  the  use  of  means  or  on  the  action  of  the  Spirit ; 
and  they  s;ive  up  the  subject  whenever  they  retreat  into 
mystery,  or  stretch  the  sovereignty  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment beyond  its  own  proper  attributes.  Here  then  we 
take  our  stand,  and  interpret  the  pow'er  of  God,  so  far  as 
it  is  the  subject  of  our  discussion,  by  the  laws  of  Spirit, 
as  Spirit  is  to  be  distinguished  from  Soul. 

But  it  may  be  that  we  have  not  yet  entirely  escaped 
from  the  entanglements  of  the  philosophy  which  we  have 
endeavored  to  expose.  The  means  which  are  employed,  it 
may  be  said,  are  physical:  and,  it  will  be  argued,  we  are 
necessarily  under  the  action  of  physical  power.     It  is  un- 


196  LECTURES  ON 

questionably  true  that  the  material  system  affords  to  us,  as 
well  as  to  the  great  Governor  of  the  world,  the  means  of 
action.  Such  was  the  object  and  design  of  that  system. 
It  was  intended  to  subserve  a  moral  purpose,  and  to  furnish 
to  moral  beings  their  secondary  agencies.  But  will  it  fol- 
low that  the  moral  purpose  must  be  forgotten?  that  the 
moral  being  must  be  degraded  to  a  level  with  his  seconda- 
ry agencies?  that  the  material  system  must  be  consider- 
ed as  primary  ?  or  that  we  have  no  will  to  exercise,  no 
liberty  to  choose  ?  Is  there  nothing  wrong  in  stretching 
a  system  beyond  itself?  Have  we  heard  nothing  of  the 
evil  of  being  carnal,  when  we  ought  to  have  been  spiritual  ? 

Suppose  we  subject  this  matter  to  the  test  of  experi- 
ence. The  prince  has  forgotten  to  be  a  father  to  his  peo- 
ple, and  has  put  on  the  character  of  the  military  chieftain. 
Swords  and  bayonets,  armies  and  navies,  mighty  prepa- 
rations for  war  and  slaughter,  have  been  the  secondary 
agents  which  his  ambition  has  selected.  What  has  been 
the  result?  His  subjects  have  been  despoiled  of  their  free 
agency — politicians  would  say,  of  their  liberty.  See  what 
physical  power  has  done  !  It  is  no  wonder  that  theolo- 
gians cannot  sustain  human  free  agency  in  consistency 
with  their  view  of  divine  power;  for  you  see  that  the  di- 
rect consequence  of  physical  power,  when  carried  beyond 
its  appropriate  limits,  is  the  destruction  of  free  agency. 

Again.  The  priest  has  forgotten  his  official  place.  In- 
stead of  being  a  "helper"  to  the  people  of  God,  he  has 
become  their  "  lord."  The  gibbet  and  the  stake,  the 
star-chamber  and  the  inquisition,  the  synod  and  the  coun- 
cil, both  general  and  particular — by  such  agencies  as  these 
mankind  have  been  despoiled  of  their  rights — their  moral 
liberties,  their  ecclesiastical  free  agency.  The  sanction 
which  ecclesiastical  law  has  extended  to  these  measures, 
can  be  justified  in  no  way  but  by  the  doctrine  of  physical 
power.  By  maintaining  that  doctrine,  moralists  have  been 
united  with  political  and   military  chieftains  in  a  crusade 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  197 

against  the  well-being  of  man.  In  fact,  notwithstanding 
all  their  boast,  there  is  nothing  in  which  mankind  believe 
so  little  as  they  do  in  free  agency.  They  are  afraid  to 
trust  it ;  and,  pretending  that  it  will  necessarily  go  wrong, 
they  have  trembled  to  let  mankind  have  even  the  bible. 

The  legislative  policy  pursued  by  the  Mediator,  and  the 
reason  for  which  is  found  in  the  circumstances  of  the 
nations,  illustrates  our  general  argument.  The  former 
economy,  as  an  administration  of  law,  was  made  up  of 
"the  elements  of  the  world."  Physical  agents  were  em- 
ployed to  a  fearful  extent — so  much  so  that  an  apostle  de- 
scribes the  institute  as  "a  yoke  which  neither  we  nor  our 
fathers  were  able  to  bear."  Jehovah  presided,  so  to  speak, 
in  his  own  proper  Person  ;  and  though  the  Spirit,  as  such, 
exerted  a  moral  influence — for  a  father  may  do  this  even 
when  personally  present  in  the  midst  of  his  family — yet 
you  remember  that  God  then  spoke  of  motions  and  actions 
of  hh  Soul.  "  Shall  not  my  Soul  be  avenged  on  such  a 
nation  as  this  ?"  According  to  the  distinction  already  set 
forth,  here  is  room  for  more  than  moral  influence.  Physical 
power  may  be  readily  discerned  and  safely  asserted,  yet 
only  to  a  certain  extent :  but  up  to  the  whole  extent  of 
the  physical  operation  the  influence  of  Spirit  would  be 
modified,  as  you  may  perceive,  if  you  place  yourselves  for 
a  moment  by  the  burning  mountain  in  the  wilderness,  and 
endeavor  to  estimate  the  scene  of  terror  which  made  even 
Moses  exceedingly  to  fear  and  quake.  But  let  God  be  his 
own  interpreter.  He  represents  his  people  under  that  dis- 
pensation as  being  in  a  state  of  bondage — under  bondage 
to  physical  agents,  or  the  elements  of  the  world — under 
tutors  and  governors  like  a  child,  and  differing  nothing 
from  a  servant — and  the  Spirit  to  be  a  Spirit  of  bond- 
age and  fear.  Symbolically  and  comparatively  speaking, 
did  not  that  institute,  in  making  so  large  a  use  of  physical 
agents,  interfere  with  the  free  agency  or  liberty  of  the 
jews  ? 

17* 


198  LECTURES  ON 

On  the  other  hand,  these  physical  agents  are  discarded 
under  the  new  dispensation,  and  in  their  room  we  have 
"the  ministration  of  the  Spirit."  Jehovah  makes  no  re- 
ference to  his  soul.  No  fearful  transactions  are  recorded  : 
— no  mighty  wind — no  alarming  earthquake — no  consum- 
ing fire — but  a  still  small  voice.  The  whole  is  emphaticallv 
sustained  by  the  Spirit :  and  to  blaspheme  against  the  Spirit, 
is  to  turn  traitor  to  the  gracious  government  under  which 
we  live.  The  ignorance  of  childhood  is  passed  away. 
Light  and  knowledge  have  been  brought  in.  Physical 
agency  yields  to  moral  influence.  "Where  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty."  Intelligent  men  must,  and 
will  be  free  ;  and  Jehovah's  government  recognises  the  fact, 
uttering  a  still  small  voice,  instead  of  those  "  almighty  vo- 
litions" of  which  some  theologians  pompously  but  igno- 
rantly  speak.  An  apostle  would  say — "  Stand  fast  in  the 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free,  and  be  not  en- 
tangled again  with  the  yoke  of  bondage."  I  am  not  sure 
but  that  some  one  shall  infer  from  the  preceding  argu- 
ment that,  as  the  government  of  law  has  been  represented 
to  be  a  condition  of  bondage,  it  would  follow  that  if 
Adam  had  not  violated  law,  all  mankind,  who  would  then 
have  been  under  law  and  not  under  gospel,  would  have 
been  in  bondage.  Such  a  controvertist,  however,  must  be 
called  upon  to  remember  that  his  argument  assails  the  facts 
as  they  have  been  given  by  inspiration.  He  might  ac- 
cordingly be  left  to  settle  the  question  with,  and  for?* him- 
self. But  we  have  no  wish  to  evade  a  difficulty,  nor  any 
objection  to  try  the  doctrine  even  by  this  test.  Cannot  a 
parent  personally  dwell  in  the  midst  of  his  children,  after 
they  are  "  of  fall  age."  without  destroying  their  individual 
liberty  ?  Some  parents,  we  know,  cannot,  or  do  not.  Their 
children  are  always  children,  and  never  are  considered  to 
be,  or  are  not  dealt  with  as  though  they  were,  men  and  wo- 
men. But  is  any  parental  wisdom  thereby  displayed  ?  Is 
such  conduct  right  ?  Is  it  consistent  with  the  nature  of  the 


MORAL    GOVERNMENT.  199 

case  ?  Can  such  children  ever  become  respectable,  influ- 
ential, or  prosperous  ?  You  can  have  no  difficulty  in  un- 
derstanding, and  deciding  upon  such  a  case.  Yet  this  is 
precisely  what  theologians  have  made  the  government  of 
God  to  be,  and  is  the  real  import  of  all  their  speculations 
about  physical  power  and  "  electing  love."  Physical  agen- 
cy is  followed  by  a  train  of  partialities,  which  not  one  of 
these  reasoners  can  explain,  and  over  which  they  necessa- 
rily throw  the  veil  of  mystery. 

Still  further.  While  the  Mosaic  economy,  considered 
simply  as  law,  is  described  as  so  oppressive,  it  was  }~et  un- 
der the  control  of  the  evangelic  principle  "involved  in  the 
Abrahamic  covenant.  The  action  of  this  evangelical  prin- 
ciple would  imply  the  operation  of  Jehovah's  Spirit,  ac- 
cording to  the  distinction  under  consideration.  Hence 
God  said  by  one  of  his  prophets — "According  to  the  word 
that  I  covenanted  with  you  when  ye  came  out  of  Egypt, 
so  my  Spirit  remaineth  among  you,  fear  ye  not."  The  ex- 
istence of  law  as  a  principle  of  government,  would  not 
break  up  the  moral  influence  involved  in  the  operation  of 
Spirit.  You  may  then,  if  you  please,  carry  this  back  to  the 
original  circumstances  in  which  Adam  was  placed,  and 
learn,  that  when  God  had  finished  his  works,  and  entered 
into  his  rest,  the  world  was  left  under  "the  ministration 
of  the  Spirit."  In  fact,  the  remedial  institute  is  a  modi- 
fied application  of  original  principles.  Christ,  who  is  the 
exact  image  of  the  divine  Person,  enters  into  his  rest,  as 
God  did,  and  leaves  his  Spirit,  as  God  did.  to  sustain  his 
rectoral  plans. 

But  leaving  the  political  view,  in  reference  to  the  divine 
government  just  advanced,  out  of  consideration,  we  might 
anticipate  the  heavenly  state  itself,  by  supposing  that  Adam 
had  not  sinned — that  all  his  children  were  consequently 
under  law — that  Jehovah  presided  in  his  own  proper 
person  as  their  Lord — and  that  men  obeyed  the  law.  Our 
heavenly  Father  would  betray  no  want  of  intelligence.  He 


200  LECTURES  ON 

would  do  whatever  is  right  ;  and  all  would  display  wisdom 
and  love.  His  children,  would  act  precisely  right,  and  from 
their  own  inward  impulse,  or  the  impulse  of  their  own  feel- 
ings ;  for  law,  in  view  of  the  original  constitution  of  man, 
is  written  on  his  heart,  or  incorporated  with  his  nature. 
Man  would,  in  such  a  case,  act  intelligently  and  kindly. — 
How  much  physical  power  would  then  be  required  ?  How 
much  liberty  is  sacrificed  when  an  intelligent  being  does 
what  he  knows  to  be  right?  And  how  much  of  the  slave 
does  he  betra}r,  when  he  is  guided  by  wisdom  and  moves 
under  the  impulse  of  the  best  feelings  ?  Where  love,  wis- 
dom, and  right  action  are  found,  who  discovers  bondage? 
Such  a  condition  affords  us  the  best  view  we  can  have  of 
Jehovah — the  very  view  he  gives  of  himself;  and  at  the 
same  time  presents  men  as  they  ought  to  be,  and  as  finally 
they  shall  be — like  God.  That  Jehovah  should  dwell  in 
the  midst  of  them  under  such  circumstances  argues  any 
thing  but  the  bondage  of  his  children.  To  accomplish  that 
which  is  right,  and  in  the  wisest  and  most  benevolent  man- 
ner, is  the  object  of  all  government.  When  that  is  accom- 
plished., or  when  such  a  system  of  administration  is  regu- 
larly and  fully  sustained,  government  may  be  felt,  but  it 
will  not  be  seen;  and  the  feeling  will  be  associated  with 
every  movement  that  is  dignified,  noble,  generous  and 
heavenly.  The  simple  characteristic  of  the  whole  will  be 
— unit}7  of  Spirit.  Compulsion  by  physical  power  will  not 
be  sought  nor  desired.  Instruments  of  oppression  would 
be  transmuted  into  instruments  of  general  use,  and  that 
which  is  carnal  would  be  exchanged  for  that  which  is  spi- 
ritual.    God  would  be  tl^p  centre  of  union  and  love— God 

WOUld  be  ALL   AND  IN  ALL. 

The  most  compendious  view  which  the  scriptures  have 
given  us  of  the  mediatorial  government,  I  suppose  is  to  be 
found  in  what  is  commonly  called  "  the  apostolic  blessing," 
and  which  is  expressed  in  the  following  language — u  The 
grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  201 

the  communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  be  with  you  all.  Amen." 
By  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  understand  all 
that  belongs  to  the  mediatorial  administration  of  Jesus  in 
his  official  character,  as  constituted  "the  Head  of  every 
man."  By  the  love  of  God  I  understand,  not  merely  di- 
vine love  as  that  in  which  the  plan  of  redemption  originated, 
but  that  which  he,  as  "the  Head  of  Christ,"  extends  to 
every  one  who  believes  and  acts  accordingly.  All  who,  by 
the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are  brought  as  new 
creatures  to  walk  in  newness  of  life,  are  objects  of,  and 
sharers  in,  this  love  of  God.  It  therefore,  occupies  its  ap- 
propriate place  in  the  apostolic  benediction,  when  it  suc- 
ceeds "  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ;"  and  is  inten- 
tionally put  in  its  proper  order,  as  that  order  is  prescribed, 
not  by  the  popular  doctrine  of  trinity,  but  by  the  essential 
philosophy  of  Christianity  as  a  remedial  system.  The  com- 
munion of  the  Holy  Spirit,  I  understand  to  cover  our  pre- 
sent subject;  i.  e.  in  contemplating  the  principles,  in  at- 
tending on  the  ordinances,  and  in  performing  the  duties, 
which  the  gospel  unfolds  to  the  human  mind,  we  have  fel- 
lowship with  the  Spirit  of  God,  just  as  we  have  fellowship 
with  an  author  in  reading  his  book ;  with  an  apostle  in  pe- 
rusing one  of  his  epistles  ;  with  a  departed  friend  in  any 
memorial  which  may  delineate  an  image  of  one  who, 
personally,  can  no  more  be  seen  in  this  world.  To  realize 
that  fellowship,  in  any  of  those  intellectual  exercises  to 
which  the  truth  may  invite  us,  is  to  feel  that  moral  influ- 
ence which  God  exerts — that  wisdom  and  power  of  God 
which,  through  the  preaching  of  a  crucified  Christ,  con- 
verts the  soul. 

Such  an  intellectual  operation  you  distinctly  perceive 
is  implied  in  the  moral  influence,  which  is  exerted  by 
the  spirit  of  man ;  and  man  is  like  God — and  like  him 
in  this  very  connexion.  "  For  what  man  knoweth  the 
things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him  ? 
Even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit 
of  God."  The  similitude  thus  traced  out  offers  no  violence 


20-2  LECTURES  ON 

to  true  philosophy.  It  is  merely  the  human  mind  rising 
from  fellowship  with  an  intellectual  creature,  to  fellowship 
with  the  intellectual  Creator,  and  that  by  a  direct  process — 
communion  with  a  brother — a  father — a  minister — a  pro- 
phet— an  apostle — Jehovah  himself.  All  the  way  it  is 
communion  of  Spirit  with  Spirit.  Physical  power  be- 
longs no  more  to  one  part  of  the  process  than  to  another — 
no  more  to  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  than  to  the  spirit 
of  a  father  upon  his  child  ;  the  spirit  of  a  minister  upon  his 
people ;  the  spirit  of  a  prophet  or  an  apostle  upon  the 
church ;  the  spirit  of  a  ruler  on  his  subjects ;  the  spirit  of 
the  community  upon  its  members  ;  or  the  spirit  of  the  world 
on  the  ungodly.  It  is  the  communion  of  mind  with  mind, 
and  must  be  explained  on  the  laws  of  mind.  Physical 
power  in  such  relations  is  a  very  small  matter;  physical 
agencies  are  but  the  means  by  which  the  mind  acts, 
and  without  which,  in  this  material  world  it  cannot  act. 

Let  us  exemplify. — Some  stranger  undertakes  to  counsel 
a  wayward  youth.  The  advice  offered  is  just  such  as  ought 
to  be  given.  Its  truth  is  unquestionable  and  easily  per- 
ceived. Perhaps  the  youth  may  bow  submissively  :  for 
there  is  nothing  unnatural  or  improbable  in  the  idea  that 
mind  may  yield  to  the  influence  of  truth,  or  that  the 
spirit  of  one  human  being  may  strongly  affect  the  spirit 
of  another  human  being.  But  the  stranger  may  possibly 
be  considered  to  be  officious  and  impertinent,  and  may  be 
treated  accordingly.  Yet  he  uttered  truth,  and  in  all 
probability  the  truth  he  uttered  was  distinctly  understood. 
Why  then  has  his  advice  been  rejected,  and  himself  dis- 
dained ?  The  objection  supposed,  you  perceive,  is  personal. 
Though  the  stranger  has  uttered  truth,  yet  he  is  considered 
impertinent  or  officious — the  errant  boy  declines  all  fellow- 
ship with  the  strangers  spirit. — The  father  then  appears, 
offers  the  same  advice,  and  urges  the  same  truth ;  or  it  is 
made  evident  that  the  stranger  interfered,  not  on  his  own 
account,  but  as  the  father's  agent,  and  the  desired  impres* 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  203 

sion  is  produced.  What  is  the  difference  ?  Truth  is  de- 
clared in  both  cases.  No  arbitrary  power,  no  physical  com- 
pulsion has  been  employed.  Had  such  power  been  called 
in,  the  impression  desired  might  not  have  been  made.  The 
only  difference  which  can  be  perceived  is,  that  the  per- 
sonal objection  supposed  has  been  removed,  and  that  fel- 
lowship of  spirit  has  sustained  the  appeals  of  truth. 

The  gospel  is  preached  by  a  fellow-man,  and  no  good 
effect  follows — the  sinner  remains  unmoved,  unconverted. 
On  some  occasion  a  circumstance  occurs  which  leads  that 
same  sinner  to  recognise  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
He  listens,  and  hears  the  same  gospel  which  he  had  before 
heard  unmoved  and  unconverted.  An  impression  is  now 
made,  deep  and  fixed.  He  weeps — he  repents — he  for- 
sakes his  sin — he  turns  to  the  Lord  !  what  is  the  influence  ? 
The  gospel,  or  truth,  is  the  same  in  both  cases.  No  arbi- 
trary power  has  been  exerted.  Had  there  been,  it  might 
have  alarmed — peradventure  it  would  have  hardened — the 
sinner ;  for  what  wonderful  works  did  not  the  children  of 
Israel  behold  in  the  wilderness,  or  in  Messiah's  day  ?  But 
now  the  conscience  has  been  convicted,  the  God  of  love  is 
believed,  the  sinner  instantly  sets  out  on  his  career  after 
glory,  honor  and  immortality,  and  may  soon  be  heard  sing- 
ing the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb  before  the  throne. 
What  has  transpired  ?  Simply  this — He  has  perceived  that 
God  addressed  him.  The  gospel  was  wisdom,  from  the 
first,  but  now  it  is  discerned  to  be  the  wisdom  of  God  ;  it 
was  power  from  the  first,  but  now  it  is  discerned  to  be  the 
power  of  God  ;  and  is  not  this  precisely  what  is  meant  by 
the  communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  The  God  of  love 
has  sustained  his  own  truth,  and  the  combination — truth 
demonstrated  in  love  by  the  Spirit- — has  been  perceived 
and  felt. 

It  is  not  however  to  be  denied,  that  after  this  intellectual 
operation  the  sinner  may  continue  his  course  of  transgres- 
sion.    If  he  should,  what  is  his  crime  ?  Has  he  not  resist- 


204  LECTURES  ON 

ed — grieved — vexed — quenched  —blasphemed  the  Holy 
Spirit?  Will  you  bring  in  physical  agency  at  this  crisis? 
will  you  throw  the  sinner  into  the  omnipotent  hand,  to  be 
remoulded  in  some  of  his  intellectual  qualities  ;  and  call  it 
the  renovation  of  his  will,  or  the  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  While  this  deteriorating  .process  has  been  going  on, 
much  forbearance  has  been  extended.  One  kind  provi- 
dence after  another  may  have  renewed  the  opportunity  of 
repentance  ;  and  thrown  the  sinner's  mind  into  the  centre 
of  most  interesting  circumstances,  betokening  the  presence, 
and  inviting  to  the  fellowship,  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  In  an 
age  of  miracles  many  mighty  works  may  have  been  per- 
formed. In  the  ordinary  course  of  human  events  argu- 
ments may  have  been  framed ;  appeals  may  have  been 
pointedly  addressed ;  threatenings  fearful  and  alarming 
may  have  been  uttered ;  mercies  may  have  been  bestowed 
or  withdrawn  ;  afflictions  may  have  been  sent ;  sins  may 
have  been  visited  with  appropriate  punishment ;  marked 
deliverances  may  have  been  accomplished  ;  Jehovah  may 
-say — "  All  day  long  I  have  stretched  forth  my  hands  unto 
a  disobedient  and  gainsaying  people."  Every  step  of  this 
remedial  process  is  like  the  first  which  has  been  described, 
and  when  at  last  the  Spirit  has  been  blasphemed,  is  there 
any  pardon  to  be  obtained  ?  is  there  any  more  sacrifice 
for  sin  ?  is  there  any  omnipotent,  irresistible,  agency  to  be 
put  forth?  is  unreserved  mercy  to  be  extended,  indiscrimi- 
nately saving  all  ?  is  Jehovah  to  be  censured  ?  or  is  the 
sinner  alone,  and  altogether,  in  fault? 

Now  God  is  always  speaking  in  his  gospel,  and  this  fel- 
lowship of  the  Spirit  may  be  enjoyed  by  all.  The  hearers 
are  not  always  conscious  of  the  fact.  And  why  ?  Their 
**  carnality  of  mind,"  or  their  "  minding  the  things  of  the 
flesh,"  is  the  scriptural  exposition  of  the  melancholy  scene, 
and  not  a  personal  election  unto  eternal  life,  nor  a  deficien- 
cy of  divine  power.  The  hearer  places  the  world  as  an 
intermediate  object  between  him  and  the  truth,  and  per- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  205 

ceives  not  what  is  transacting,  because  he  is  shutting  out  the 
whole  scene  from  his  view.     If,  while  a  father  is  delivering 
his  earnest  and  affectionate  advice,  the   mind  of  his  son  is 
dwelling  on  the  anticipated  sports  of  to-morrow,  neither  the 
truth  utterred,  nor  the  strong  working  of  the  parental  heart, 
can  be  perceived.     A  dead,  stupid,  silence  might  prevail ; 
and  so  far  parental  authority  might  be  recognised.     Just 
so  is  it  with  the  hearers  of  the  gospel.     They  listen  silent- 
ly, and  visibly  acknowledge  the  divine  institution,  but  do 
nothing.     Perhaps  they  are  waiting  for  God,  like  the  jews 
waiting  for  the  Messiah  ;  and  are  wondering  at  the  mighty 
things  which  are  doing  around  them.     Should  they  ven- 
ture to  ask — how  is  it  that  these  things  are  so  ?  I  would 
answer  as  the  Redeemer  did — "  If  any  man  will  do  his 
will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  is  from 
heaven"  or  not.     But  you  see  that  this  is  not  the  course 
which   multitudes   of   gospel   hearers    adopt.     They    are 
delighting  themselves  with  a  display  of  eloquence — are 
admiring  a  beautiful  piece  of  fancy — are  following  an  in- 
genious argument — are  criticising  oratorical,  or  logical,  or 
philosophical  mistakes — are  carefully  squaring  what  is  ut- 
tered with  their  sectarian  standards — are  arranging  plans  of 
business — or  are  fatigued,  and  anxiously  waiting  for  the 
close  of  an  uninteresting  service  :  but  fellowship  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  his  own  ordinances  they  neither  hold  nor 
seek.     Perhaps,  like  certain  disciples  baptized  unto  John's 
baptism,  they  "have  not  so  much  as  heard,  whether  the 
Holy  Spirit  is.     Can  such  hearers  of  the  gospel  be  roused  ? 
Can  the  thunders  of  violated  law  and  a  coming  judgment 
alarm  them  ?  Can  the  voice  of  love  call  them  off  from  their 
vain  pursuits  ?  Can  a  season  of  affliction  break  the  spell 
that  binds  them  to  ruin  ?  Can  any  agency  bring  them  into 
communion  with  God  ? — a  communion   which   demands 
their  best  affections,  and  in  which  is  to  be  realized  the  liv- 
ing and  transforming  influence  that  saves  the  soul. 

This  power  of  God,  of  which  you  hear  so  much,  and 
Vol.  II.— 18 


206  LECTURES  ON 

which  is  so  often  represented  to  be  something  more  thanr 
and  something  above,  the  truth,  is  simply  fellowship  with 
God  in  the  truth.  Here  is  moral  influence — the  se- 
cret of  evangelic  philosophy.  The  gospel  reveals  Jeho- 
vah ;  opens  up  the  way  into  the  holiest  of  all  through  the 
rent  veil  of  the  Redeemer's  flesh;  consecrates  "heavenly 
places"  where  God  and  the  sinner  meet  on  common  prin- 
ciples, and  hold  fellowship  in  common  transactions ;  and 
encompasses  the  sinner  with  suitable  and  appropriate 
images  in  which  he  beholds  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  so 
is  transformed  into  the  divine  likeness.  God  is  in  the  sanc- 
tuary— in  the  family — in  the  closet — m  the  heart.  The 
sense  of  his  presence  and  love,  with  thrilling  influence 
wakes  up  all  the  fine  sensibilities  of  the  soul,  and  bears 
the  sinner  aloft,  regenerated,  redeemed,  and  glorified,  to  the 
mansions  of  everlasting  life. 

With  wThat  alacrity  Moses  headed  the  hosts  of  Israel 
and  marched  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  when  he  received  the 
assurance  that  God  would  go  with  him  !  With  what  con- 
fidence the  disciples  went  forth  to  organize  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  when  the  Master  fulfilled  his  promise  to  be 
with  them,  and  sent  the  Spirit  to  hold  fellowship  wdth 
them  in  their  work  !  How  the  laborious  and  abused  apostle 
to  the  gentiles  felt  himself  inspirited  for  duty  and  toil,  for 
enterprise  and  danger !  and  with  what  unbending  purpose 
he  went  to  the  synagogue,  to  the  temple,  to  the  court,  or 
to  prison,  when  he  heard  the  Master  say — "  Fear  not  Paul. 
I  am  with  thee!"  And  the  humblest  or  the  feeblest 
among  us  may  do  likewise.  If  we  live  in  communion  with 
the  Holy  Spirit,  the  proudest  philosophy  cannot  shake  our 
faith ;  the  severest,  the  longest,  trials  cannot  exhaust  our 
patience  ;  the  most  painful  or  ignominious  death  cannot 
defraud  us  of  our  integrity,  nor  take  away  our  crown  ;  we 
can  glory  in  tribulation,  or  triumph  amidst  floods  or  flames. 
This  is  pow^kr — is  it  not  ?  Just  such  power  as  we  need, 
and  which  will  make  us  sufficient  for  every  effort — is  it  not  ? 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  207 

What  more  can  be  desired?  unless  indeed  the  human 
mind  he  physically  dead,  i.  e.  has  lost  all  power  of  intel- 
lectual action.  In  such  a  case,  intellectual  fellowship  is 
not  to  be  spoken  of,  until  by  physical  power,  intellectual 
vitality  shall  be  restored. 

The  character  of  theological  controversy  makes  it  ne- 
cessary for  us  to  dispose  of  another  idea,  which  may  be 
embarrassing.  The  Spirit  of  God  sustains  in  being  what- 
ever it  pleased  him  to  create.  God  sends  forth  his  Spirit, 
and  thus  renews  the  face  of  earth.  In  like  manner  he  sus- 
tains the  human  mind,  and  seeks  to  renew  it.  In  him  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being.  He  has  an  access  to 
our  spirits  as  free  and  unreserved  as  to  any  object  visible 
to  us.  Darkness  and  light  are  both  alike  unto  him.  He 
looks  upon  our  inmost  thoughts  with  as  much  ease  as  he 
looks  upon  a  blazing  sun,  or  the  brightness  of  the  seraphim 
that  are  near  his  throne.  He  dwells  in  us.  Of  course  he 
sustains  us  in  our  actions;  both  mental  and  corporeal.  We 
can  no  more  think  without  him,  than  we  can  walk  without 
him. — The  analogy  cannot  be  disputed.  But  to  what  con- 
clusion will  the  analogy  lead  ?  Does  not  the  Spirit  act  in 
perfect  consistency  with  all  the  laws  of  the  material  sys- 
tem ?  and  will  he  disregard  the  laws  of  the  intellectual 
system  ?  When  he  renews  the  face  of  earth,  does  it  follow 
that  the  withered  vegetation  was  litterally  dead,  and  that 
the  farmer  can  do  nothing?  When  he  speaks  of  renewing 
the  human  mind,  does  it  follow  that  mind  is  dead,  or  that 
the  sinner  can  do  nothing  ?  If  mind  and  matter  belong  to 
different  systems,  and  are  governed  by  different  laws,  will 
not  the  agency  of  the  Spirit  conduct  trains  of  operations 
correspondingly  different  ?  Will  he  sustain  the  actions  of 
the  creatures  when  they  cultivate  the  earth?  and  not  sus- 
tain their  actions  in  the  cultivation  of  mind  ?  When  beau- 
ty, and  verdure,  and  fruitfulness,  and  fragrance,  pro- 
ceed from  human  agency,  as  sustained  by  the  co-operating 
agency  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  would  you  not  thankfully  as- 


208  LECTURES  ON 

cribe  the  whole  to  a  divine  blessing,  without  inferring:  that 
man  could  do  nothing  in  view  of  the  effect  produced  ?  In 
the  acquisition  of  science,  under  the  direction  of  an  intel- 
ligent preceptor,  is  the  pupil  incapable  of  exerting  his  own 
mind  ?  or  is  not  the  very  object  of  tuition,  which  the  pre- 
ceptor keeps  constantly  before  him,  the  eliciting  the  pupil's 
own  mind,  and  teaching  him"  to  think  for  himself?  And 
in  morals,  as  superintended  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  must 
not  a  similar  intellectual  process  be  sustained?  or  are  we 
to  be  forever  talking  about  our  inability? 

But  then  is  not  this  agency  of  the  Spirit,  in  sustaining 
his  creatures,  physical  ?     Be  it  so.     Free   agency  is  not 
here  asserted.    Whether  we  shall  live  or  not,  is  not  a  ques- 
tion for  us  to  determine.     It  has  been  appointed  unto  all 
men    once   to  die.     Does  it   follow  that  our  intellectual 
operations,  which  imply  free  agency,  are  controlled  by  the 
physical   energy  of  Jehovah,   because   we  have  the  evi- 
dence of  that  controlling  energy,  where  free  agency  is  not 
implied  ?     Or  when  we  look  around  upon  the  other  parts 
of  creation,  of  which  free   agency  is  not  predicated,   do 
we  not  observe  even  then  that  visible  effects  are  flowing 
from  visible  causes  ?  Or,  as  science  advances,  and  new  dis- 
coveries are  accumulated,  do  we  not  ascertain  that  visible 
effects,  which  were  deemed  mysterious,  or  were  referred 
to  an  inscrutable  sovereignty  because  they   could  be  as- 
signed to  no  known  cause,  are,  after  all,  the  product  of  se- 
condary agencies  ?     And  while  infidelity  is  flattering  her- 
self that  these  various  disclosures  shall  confirm  her  adven- 
turous theories,  does  not  the  enlightened  christian  exult  in 
his  enlarging  views  of  his  great  Creator?     Can  any  one 
prescribe  a  limit  to  this  series  of  created  laws,  or  interme- 
diate instrumentalities?     Does  not  the  illumined  mind  go 
onwards  in  its  intellectual  investigation,  until  it  discovers 
spiritual  intelligences  of  other  and  higher  orders,  mingling 
amid  the  busy  scene,  and  God  himself  putting  on  exter- 
nal form,  on  purpose  that  his  Spirit  may  act  by  interme- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  209 

diate  agents  ?  And  yet  theologians  around  us  are  referring 
every  operation  to  his  physical  power,  and  frittering  away 
means  by  the  very  argument  professedly  designed  to  up- 
hold them. 

I  cannot  conceive  of  any  other  operation  of  divine  pow- 
er in  the  case,  than  that  in  which  God — acting  as  an  intel- 
lectual being,  and  with  man  as  an  intellectual  creature,  on 
the  laws  of  mind  or  spirit — accomplishes  his  designs  by 
appropriate  means  ;  unless  man  shall  be  stripped  of  his 
free  agency,  and  be  as  destitute  of  power  of  volition  as 
an  inanimate  machine.  That  operation  of  power,  as  we 
have  seen,  Jehovah  disclaims: — "  Not  by  might,  nor  by 
power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord."  He  promised 
much  to  Israel  of  old;  but  said,  "I  will  yet  for  this  be 
enquired  of  by  the  house  of  Israel  to  do  it  for  them."  We 
are  kept  by  his  power  through  faith.  Neither  can  I  see 
any  valuable  end  to  be  answered  by  any  other  view  of 
divine  power.  If  men  can  be  saved,  according  to  the  sys- 
tem laid  down,  and  consistently  with  their  own  responsi- 
bility, what  need  is  there  for  any  further  operation  of 
power?  If  a  farther  exercise  of  power  will  necessarily 
construct  individual  salvation  upon  divine  sovereignty, 
and  take  it  away  from  human  free  agency ;  then,  to  bring 
in  that  additional  power,  is  not  only  to  introduce  another 
but  a  worse  system  of  morals.  It  would  distinctly  follow 
that  God  must,  without  any  reference  to  their  moral  abili- 
ties, save  all  men ;  or  assign  a  reason  why  he  has,  in  sove- 
reignty, made  a  selection.  In  the  one  case  men  are  re- 
sponsible to  the  extent  of  their  capacity,  and  in  the  other 
they  are  dealt  with  as  responsible,  while  they  have  no  ca- 
pacity. Surely  this  latter  view  is  incomparably  worse  than 
the  first ;  and  there  must  needs  be  a  very  sufficient  reason 
for  so  strange  a  proceeding. 

The  hypothesis  which  strikes  me  as  so  singular  and  ob- 
jectionable, has  been  both  stated  and  defended.     What  is 
the  reason  by  which  its  advocates  would  justify  it?  Some 
18* 


210  LECTURES  ON 

will  reply,  all  men  have  forfeited  their  moral  rights ;  God 
is  under  no  obligation  to  save  any  of  them ;  and  he  may 
surely  save  some  of  them  without  doing  injustice  to  the 
rest.  That  answer  might  do  if  it  corresponded  with  facts. 
But  mankind  have  not  lost  their  personal  responsibility  ; 
and  consequently  have  not  forfeited  their  claims  to  a  form 
of  moral  government  which  shall  be  consistent  with  that 
responsibility.  It  is  true,  that  personally  they  have  sinned  ; 
but  then  they  have  been  brought  into  a  condition  of  infirm- 
ity, by  a  fault  not  their  own;  and  therefore  are  objects  of 
forbearance — and  this  same  matter  of  forbearance  is  a  fa- 
vorite attribute  of  the  evangelical  administration.  More- 
over, the  gospel  is  as  happily  suited  to  one  human  being  as 
it  is  to  another ;  and,  on  a  principle  of  free  agency,  is  just 
as  practicable  for  one  as  for  another :  so  that  if  there  be  no 
omnipotent  combatant  on  the  field,  one  might  be  saved  as 
well  as  another.  And  finally,  they  who  are  condemned, 
are  not  condemned  on  account  of  an  original  forfeiture,  in 
view  of  which  the  gospel  has  passed  them  by ;  but  be- 
cause they  have  rejected  the  gospel  in  their  own  unbelief. 
"The  Spirit  shall  convince  the  world  of  sin,  because  they 
believe  not  on  me,"  said  the  Redeemer.  The  answer 
stated  does  not  correspond  with  the  facts. 

Some  may  attempt  to  meet  the  difficulty  by  asserting,  that 
man  is  not  competent  to  fathom  so  deep  a  mystery  ;  and 
that  God  gives  no  account  of  his  matters  to  his  creatures. 
Such  a  reply  makes  the  whole  hypothesis  equivocal.  Every 
man  should  speak  very  modestly,  when  he  professedly  does 
not  understand  the  doctrines  which  he  advocates.  I  see 
no  advantage  to  be  gained,  by  proclaiming  a  moral  system 
which  is  so  defective  and  unintelligible  at  the  very  start. 
Besides,  this  reply  is  directly  opposed  to  the  facts  in  the 
case.  For  God  has  given  the  reason,  why  he  condemns 
any  of  our  race,  with  as  much  distinctness,  as  he  has  ex- 
plained why  he  has  accepted  others.  The  law  of  the  moral 
system  is  explicitly  applied  both  ways.     He  who  belie veth 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  211 

shall  be  saved — he  who  believeth  not  shall  be  damned.  Nor 
only  so.  But  Jehovah  has  not  curtailed  the  intellectual 
inquiries  of  his  creatures,  in  any  such  abrupt  manner.  He 
has  spread  the  universe  out  before  them,  and  bid  them  car- 
ry their  researches  as  far  as  their  capacities  can  extend.  He 
has  called  upon  them  to  canvass  his  character,  and  investi- 
gate his  proceedings.  He  has  no  fear  of  his  own  integrity, 
nor  does  he  dread  our  scrutiny  on  our  own  account ;  but 
unhesitatingly  commands  us  to  see,  whether  the  judge  of 
all  the  earth  must  not  do  right  ?  Under  such  circumstances, 
the  plea  of  mystery  betrays  our  own  ignorance,  whenever 
it  is  heard.  It  is  sheer  cowardice  not  to  investigate.  No 
doubt  we  shall  meet  with  mystery — or  that  which  to  us  13 
a  secret — at  last;  for  who  can,  by  searching,  find  out  God  ? 
But  reach  mystery,  when  and  where  we  may,  it  will  still 
betray  merely  our  ignorance.  We  may  go  on,  therefore, 
until  faith  is  beginning  to  mingle  with  vision,  and  patiently 
wait  the  disclosures  of  the  eternal  world,  where  we  shall 
see  God  as  He'is.  "I  gave  my  heart,"  says  Solomon,  "to 
seek  and  search  out  by  wisdom  concerning  all  things  that 
are  done  under  the  sun  :  this  sore  travail  hath  God  given  to 
the  sons  of  men  to  be  exercised  therewith." 

Theologians  have,  however,  offered  a  formal  reason  for 
this  forbidding  hypothesis,  which  seems  to  them  fully  to 
sustain  it.  They  tell  us  that  God  carries  on  this  system  of 
operation  for  his  own  glonj.  But  is  this  dark  expression 
made  up  of  mere  words  ?  or  does  it  contain  an  idea  ?  If 
there  be  an  idea,  what  is  it  ?  Let  us  attempt  to  analyse  it. 
Glory  is  manifested  excellence.  Now  what  excellence  is 
there  in  God's  saving  some,  and  not  saving  others  ?  What 
excellence  is  there  in  God's  saving  any,  in  a  manner  which 
is  not  consistent  with  the  attributes  of  their  own  nature  ? 
or  in  not  saving  all  if  it  may  be  done  in  a  consistent  man- 
ner ?  Wherein  is  the  greater  glory  displayed — in  a  scheme 
constructed  on  the  intellectual  free  agency  of  an  intelli- 
gent creature  ?  or  in  one  which  converts  that  creature  into  a 


212  LECTURES  ON 

mere  mechanical  agent  ?  Again ;  admitting  that  excel- 
lence may  be  predicated  of  the  transactions  under  review, 
to  whom  is  the  manifestation  made?  To  God  himself? 
This  would  be  too  small  an  idea  to  be  gravely  entertained, 
in  explaining  such  high  concerns.  To  us,  is  the  display 
made  ?  Then  what  is  the  excellence,  which  is  thus  vividly 
exhibited  ?  We  are  left  to  admit  its  existence,  without  be- 
ing able  to  perceive  it :  and  this  is  no  manifestation  at  all. 
Can  you  see  the  excellence  of  God's  condemning  immortal 
spirits  solely  for  his  own  glory  ?  T  cannot.  My  soul  shud- 
ders at  the  thought.  The  angels  on  the  plains  of  Bethle- 
hem sung — glory  to  God,  peace  on  earth,  and  good  will  to- 
wards men.  Perhaps  it  will  be  said,  that  the  glory  of  God 
is  designed  to  be  set  forth  before  the  universe.  But  for  what 
practical  purpose  ?  To  afford  inducements  to  obedience, 
and  to  deter  from  rebel. ion — it  may  be  answered.  Then 
God  governs  the  universe  on  the  principle  of  moral  agency, 
which  we  have  been  setting  forth  as  belonging  to  his  go- 
vernment of  man ,  and  our  doctrine  belongs  to  every  part 
of  God's  dominion,  excepting  this  earth,  and  to  every  intel- 
ligent creature,  excepting  man.  And  where  is  the  proof, 
or  what  is  the  principle  of  proof?  Is  spirit  one  thing  on 
earth,  and  another  thing  elsewhere?  or  shall  not  redeemed 
spirits  be  like  the  angels  ?  But  conceding  even  this  mon- 
strous absurdity,  by  which  method  would  the  end  be  best 
answered — by  an  example,  in  which  free  agency  is  laid 
aside,  and  which  would  consequently  be  altogether  irrele- 
vant, as  other  intelligent  creatures  are  free  agents?  or  by  an 
example  in  which  free  agents  act  out  their  own  character? 
How  would  proceedings  purely  arbitrary,  instruct  a  rational 
creature  to  judge  of  the  character  of  proceedings  which 
are  not  arbitrary  ?  place  him  in  what  part  of  God's  dominions 
you  please. 

Still  farther — By  what  principles  of  jurisprudence  shall 
some  not  be  saved,  but  be  left  to  sink  into  perdition  for  the 
instruction  of  others  ?     Surely  the  case  is  a  most  strange 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  213 

anomaly,  which  has  not  an  analogy  to  support  it. — The 
Redeemer  suffers  for  the  benefit  of  others ;  but  then 
his  sufferings  do  not  involve  perdition,  and  he  endures  them 
voluntarily;  which  is  a  totally  different  matter.  His  was 
a  magnificent  undertaking,  which  gave  form  to  the  love 
that  God  has  for  man,  and  has  long  since  been  rewarded  by 
an  exaltation  to  the  throne.  Believers  may  suffer  now,  and 
the  good  of  others  be  promoted  thereby  ;  but  then  suffer- 
ing is  a  constituent  part  of  their  earthly  lot;  and  the  means 
of  doing  good  are  derived  from  the  nature  of  the  case  ;  nor 
do  they  perish,  even  wThen  called  to  martyrdom  itself — but 
their  afflictions  work  out  for  them  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory.  There  is  no  way  to  explain  how 
any  sinner  is  ruined,  but  that  it  is  his  own  fault.  He  does 
evil,  and  therefore  goes  down  to  weeping,  and  mourning, 
and  lamentation,  and  woe.  Nor  is  there  any  rule  to  show 
how  God,  who  is  a  righteous  Lord  and  loveth  righteousness, 
who  is  just  while  he  justifies  the  ungodly  who  believe  in 
Jesus,  and  who  has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  sinner, 
can  be  glorified  in  the  sinner's  condemnation,  save  that  which 
belongs  to  an  administration  strictly  just. 

It  may  now  be  objected,  that  simple  as  the  foregoing 
views  represent  faith  to  be,  yet  after  all,  the  scriptures  have 
argued  out  the  matter  at  very  great  length ;  from  which  it 
would  appear,  that  the  subject  has  not  all  the  simplicity 
which  I  have  supposed  it  to  possess.  But  unless  I  very 
greatly  mistake,  theologians  have  here  committed  another 
grievous  error.  I  very  much  doubt,  whether  the  scriptures 
ever  argue  out  the  question — whether  man  can,  or  cannot, 
believe  the  gospel  ? — On  the  contrary,  they  positively  re- 
quire him  to  believe,  and  unhesitatingly  condemn  him  if 
he  does  not  believe,  the  gospel.  They  certainly  do  take  up 
the  subject  of  human  "ability  and  inability,"  and  reason 
upon  it  at  large  ;  but  their  remarks  take  a  different  direc- 
tion, and  are  applied  to  another  point  altogether.  Man- 
kind have  been  placed  under  two  distinct  forms  of  moral 


214  LECTURES  OX 

government — the  one  called  law  and  the  other  called  gos- 
pel. The  respective  attributes  of  these  two  systems  have 
been  the  frequent  subject  of  discussion.  Their  reciprocal 
relations  call  them  up,  for  the  sake  of  mutual  explanations. 
The  gospel  has  been  introduced  to  effect  what  the  law  could 
not  do,  in  consequence  of  "the  weakness  of  the  flesh." 
Of  course  the  gospel  could  neither  be  illustrated  nor  de- 
fined ;  it  could  not  be  traced  to  its  origin,  and  defended  on 
the  plea  of  necessity  ;  nor  carried  forward  to  its  results,  and 
commended  on  its  sufficiency  without  referring  to  law,  the 
previous  institute  which  had  become  ineffectual.  Besides, 
the  question  whether  man  can  or  cannot  be  justified  by 
"deeds  of  law  :"'  or  whether  he  does  or  does  not  need  a  Me- 
diator r  has  given  rise  to  a  great  deal  of  controversy  in  the 
world.  The  antediluvians  abandoned  the  Mediator  alto- 
gether; the  postdiluvians  preserved  the  external  mediato- 
rial symbols,  but  stammered  about  their  import,  as  appears 
from  the  fact,  that  Abraham's  covenant  relations,  and  offi- 
cial actions,  were  intended  to  illustrate  "the  righteousness 
of  faith;"  the  jews  were,  notwithstanding  their  zeal  of 
God,  seeking  to  be  justified  by  law,  and  going  about  to  es- 
tablish their  own  righteousness  ;  and  to  this  hour  the  chris- 
tian soldier,  professedly  contending  for  "the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints,"  seems  to  have  but  a  cloud-capt  tow- 
er of  strength.  How  then  could  the  scriptural  writers 
avoid  discussing  the  comparative  merits  of  lav:  and  gospel  I 
or  informing  men.  that  they  could  not  be  saved  by  law, 
and  that  they  must,  as  a  matter  of  imperious  necessity,  flee 
to  the  Saviour  }.  This  is  the  point  of  their  argument  on  the 
subject  of  human  ability  and  inability.  In  view  of  one  in- 
stitute— man  has  Jiot  ability  to  meet  its  requirements,  ac- 
cording to  the  scriptures :  in  view  of  the  other,  he  has 
ability  ;  and  if  he  does  not  rise  and  diligently  use  it,  he 
must  perish  forever.  In  view  of  the  one,  no  interference 
of  divine  power,  consistent  with  the  intellectual  and  moral 
nature  of  man.  nor  any  agency  short  of  physical  omnipotence, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  215 

bo  to  speak,  could  extricate  him  ;  in  view  of  the  other,  di- 
vine power,  as  in  every  other  instance,  acts  in  perfect  con- 
sistency with  the  nature  or  abilities  of  the  agent  employed  ; 
and  man  escapes,  or  is  lost,  on  his  own  responsibility.  In 
other  words — as  by  the  sin  of  Adam#his  children  are  un- 
able to  meet  their  personal  engageng&nts,  Jehovah  has  ex- 
tended favor  or  grace  unto  them  ;  and  put  them  into  a  con- 
dition where  they  can  meet  those  engagements. 

A  few  texts  it  may  not  be  improper  to  quote,  in  order  to 
exhibit  this  contrast. — "By  the  deeds  of  law,  there  shall 
no  flesh  be  justified  in  his  sight ;  for  by  the  law  is  the  know- 
ledge of  sin."  Every  man  who  makes  the  experiment  of 
deeds  of  law,  will  utterly  fail;  and  instead  of  justification, 
will  acquire  the  knowledge  of  sin-*rthe  law  will  charge  sin 
upon  him  because  he  cannot  fulfill  it.  "  Therefore  we  con- 
clude, that  a  man  is  justified  by  faith  without  the  deeds  of 
law."  The  knowledge  of  sin  does  not  follow  the  experi- 
ment of  faith  ;  because  faith  is  within  the  range  of  human 
ability,  and  the  call  for  it  can  be  met, 

"Without  me,"  says  the  Redeemer,  "ye  can  do  nothing:" 
i.  e.  remove  the  Mediator,  and  man  is  undone  ;  for  then  he 
is  referred  to  "  deeds  of  law,"  and  his  case  terminates  in 
the  demonstration  of  his  guilt.  That  this  is  the  meaning  of 
our  Redeemer,  is  evident — 1.  from  the  nature  of  the  repre- 
sentation he  makes.  "lam  the  true  vine,  and  my  Father 
is  the  husbandman." — Another  vine  may  be  said  to  exist; 
but  I  am  the  true  vine.  Abandon  me  and  ye  are  undone, 
be  your  proposed  relief  what  it  may.  I  am  the  true  vine. 
To  send  me  into  the  world  is  the  Father's  great  plan  of 
salvation:  and  tome  you  must  come,  or  perish.  More- 
over, the  whole  practical  operation  of  faith  is  compared  to 
the  process  of  vegetation  :  in  which,  not  only  the  original 
cause  is  presented,  but  an  ulterior  result  is  produced, 
through  a  series  of  agents  ;  each  of  which  occupies  its  ap- 
propriate place,  and  ministers  according  to  its  own  capaci- 
ty.    And,  2.  The  Redeemer  is  addressing  himself  to  jews, 


21G  I^ECTURES  ON 

who  misunderstood  his  mediatorial  character,  had  forgotten 
the  righteousness  of  faith,  and  were  seeking  to  be  justified 
by  law.  In  opposition,  therefore,  to  their  mistaken  theolo- 
gy, he  was  pointing  out  the  position  and  connexions  of  the 
mediatorial  institute*  • 

The  rigid  sectariarffcwho  has  diverged  so  far  from  the 
simplicity  of  moral  philosophy,  as  to  mistake  the  scriptural 
argument  in  relation  to  human  ability,  never  meets  the 
terms  can,  or  cannot,  in  the  scriptures,  without  imagining 
that  they  afford  full  proof  of  his  dogma.  And  perhaps  the 
general  impression  is  in  his  favor.  Let  us  quote  some  ex- 
amples of  its  use.  "  How  canst  thou  say  to  thy  brother — 
let  me  cast  the  mote  out  of  thine  eye  ? — Ye  cannot  drink 
the  cup  of  the  Lord,  arud  the  cup  of  devils. — If  this  cup 
cannot  pass  from  me,  unless  I  drink  it. — Christ  could  not 
enter  into  the  city — his  diciples  could  not  eat  bread.— 
Christ  could  not  do  many  mighty  works,  because  of  their 
unbelief. — How  can  ye  believe,  who  receive  honor  one  of 
another? — How  can  you,  being  evil,  speak  good  things?" 
A  thousand  instances  of  this  kind  can  be  quoted,  and  no 
one  will  suppose  them  to  imply  positive  inability.  Some- 
times an  inconsistency  is  asserted ;  and  at  others  a  breach 
of  law  is  merely  supposed. 

Let  us  select  a  particular  example,  which  is  often  ad- 
duced in  a  very  positive  manner.  "The  carnal  mind,  the 
minding  of  the  flesh,  is  enmity  against  God ;  for  it  is  not 
subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be."  Now 
this  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  inability  of  man  to  believe 
the  gospel,  considered  simply  as  a  moral  agent.  The  as- 
sertion is  applied  to  him,  in  view  of  certain  circumstances 
which  are  stated.  He  is  supposed  to  be  minding  the  things 
of  the  flesh,  or  giving  his  affections  and  time  to  worldly 
pursuits  and  pleasures.  The  mind,  thus  employed,  cannot 
obey  God  ;  but  is  engaged~in  actual  rebellion  against  him. 
The  Redeemer  has  paraphrased  this  matter  thus — "  No  man 
can  serve  two  masters  :  for  either  he  will  hate  the  one,  and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  217 

love  the  other  ;  or  else  he  will  hold  to  the  one,  and  despise 
the  other.  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon."  "  Doth 
a  fountain,"  says  James,  "send  forth,  at  the  same  place, 
sweet  water  and  bitter?  Can  the  fig-tree  bear  olive  berries? 
either  a  vine  figs  ?"  Surely,  all  this  is  plain  enough:  and 
no  one  can  suppose  it  to  follow,  that  because  a  man  cannot 
serve  God  and  mammon,  therefore,  he  cannot  abandon 
mammon  and  serve  God.  Because  a  man  cannot  see  in 
the  dark,  it  does  not  follow  that  he  cannot  see  in  the  light. 

It  appears,  from  the  whole  survey  of  God's  works,  that 
he  exerts  an  agency  which  can  be  distinctly  recognised, 
and  which  always  adjusts  itself  to  the  nature  and  capacities 
of  the  creatures  whom  it  sustains.  Such  is  the  fact,  phy- 
sically, intellectually,  and  morally  considered.  Terms  may 
be  employed,  which  may  be  respectively  applied  to 
the  creature  or  to  the  Creator,  according  as  the  agency 
of  the  one  or  the  other  is  intended  to  be  expressed.  If,  in 
relation  to  the  subject  before  us,  we  shall  suppose  regene- 
ration, new  creation,  being  born  again,  and  such  like  terms 
and  phrases,  to  belong  to  the  divine  agency  ;  then  faith  and 
repentance,  thought  and  feeling,  principle  and  action,  may 
be  as  safely  predicated  of  human  effort.  The  foregoing 
argument  has  been  constructed,  under  this  impression  ;  and 
our  subject  has  been  involved  in  no  confusion,  but  stands 
out  fairly  and  prominently,  preserving  simply  its  own 
identity. 

It  further  appears  from  the  investigation  of  this  whole 
matter,  that  the  very  point  at  which  Jehovah  aims,  is  to  re- 
vive and  cherish  the  moral  sense  in  the  bosom  of  man. 
To  revive  it,  to  call  it  up  in  powerful  and  efficient  action, 
is  regeneration :  to  cultivate  and  train  it — to  subdue  every 
faculty,  and  affection,  and  habit — to  bring  the  whole  man, 
in  all  his  individual  views  and  social  relations,  in  reference 
both  to  time  and  eternity,  under  its  enlightened  control,  is 
sanctification.  Here  is  the  value  of  education,  and  the 
true  secret  of  government,  personal,  domestic,  political. 
Vol.  II. — 19 


213  LECTURES  ON 

and  divine.     And  hence  it  is,  that  you  find  an  apostle,  af- 
ter all  his  toils  and  labors,  retiring  from  the  busy  scene  of 
action,  and  hastening  away  to  be   ever  present  with  the 
Lord,  having  a  good  conscience  as  his  great  characteris- 
tic.    With  this  testimony  he  dared  to  challenge  the  accu- 
sation of  all  his  adversaries,  could  invite  the  closest  in- 
spection of  his  most  intimate   friends,  could  take  God  to 
record  on  his  soul,  and  could  depart  to  the  judgment  seat 
like  one  "ready  to  be  offered,"  and  in  the  full  assurance 
of  the  crown  of  life.     Here  too  the  Holy  Spirit  would 
bear  witness   with  his    spirit,   and  seal  him  up  for  ever- 
lasting glory.  Can  you  frame  a  good  conscience?  Can  you 
create  common  sense?    Can  you   endow  a  man  with  con- 
sciousness ?    Are  not  all  these,  notwithstanding  the  great 
and   protracted   metaphysical    discussion   to   which   they 
have  given  rise,  the  same  thing?  And  can  you  produce  these 
effects  by  physical  power?     You  perceive  that  personal 
responsibility  is  a  perfectly  philosophical  matter,  and  of 
necessity  must  give  form,  and   shape,  and  interest  to  any 
regenerating  or  sanctifying  influence  which  may  be  em- 
ployed.    The   plea   of  inability  is    nothing   more   than 
the  refuge  of  an  unenlightened  conscience — of  an  unex- 
ercised,  and  consequently  an  undisciplined  moral  sense. 
And  that,  not  because  conscience  is  by  nature  dead :  but 
because   men    have    grown    carnal   amid    spiritual   privi- 
leges,  and  have  become  hardened  by  resisting  truth,  and 
impetuously  pursuing  the  gratification  of  their  own  lusts: 
or  under  false  social  principles — domestic,  fraternal,  politi- 
cal and  ecclesiastical — have  followed  the  multitude  to  do 
evil. 

Thus  the  Spirit  of  God  acts : — he  leads  the  human  con- 
science to  the  knowledge  of  truth,  holding  fellowship  with 
us  during  the  whole  process  of  thought,  of  feeling,  of 
anxiety,  of  action,  through  wrhich  we  pass — our  helper 
amid  our  infirmities,  and  our  comforter  under  our  sorrows. 
Thus  a  man  should  govern   himself,  and  acquire  self-re- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  219 

spect,  not  from  the  plaudits  of  the  multitude,  not  from  the 
amount  of  his  wealth,  not  from  the  reach  of  his  intellect 
or  the  range  of  his  literature — all  of  which  may  only  cher- 
ish his  pride  and  ruin  his  soul ;  but  from  the  consciousness 
of  innate  principle.  The  Redeemer  bid  his  disciples  to 
live  in  this  holy  and  heavenly  manner,  though  it  should 
bring  them  before  kings,  or  to  the  martyr's  stake.  Thus 
a  parent  should  govern  his  children.  Thus  a  minister 
should  deal  with  his  people.  Thus  a  prince  should  rule 
his  subjects.  And  here  it  is  where,  at  this  moment,  with 
so  much  pain  and  convulsion  the  human  mind  is  studying 
its  individual  liberty,  and  pondering  over  personal  respon- 
sibility. The  dogmas  of  ecclesiastics  will  no  longer  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  substitute  for  conscience  ;  nor  will  the  burden- 
some legislation  of  politicians  be  any  longer  greeted  by  an 
imbecile  and  uninformed  patriotism.  And  any  man  who 
feels  an  interest  in  "  the  spread  of  the  gospel,"  or  in  the 
destinies  of  the  nations,  must  become  the  advocate,  not  of 
deadening  terror,  nor  licentious  feeling,  nor  military  su- 
premacy, but  of  educated  consciences.  Our  ministers 
need,  and  should  seek  for,  a  treble  portion  of  Elijah's  spi- 
rit; and  our  rulers  ought  all  to  be  "men  after  God's  own 
heart."  O  that  our  controvertists  did  but  understand  the 
philosophy  of  the  scriptures,  instead  of  bolstering  up  that 
of  the  dark  ages  !  0  that  they  could  rise  to  think  in  fel- 
lowship with'  the  Holy  Spirit,  instead  of  eulogizing  the 
virtues,  and  portraying  the  apotheosis  of  worthies  of  other 
days !  They  would  quickly  find  that  a  cultivated  con- 
science would  be  a  never  failing  source  of  practical  efficien- 
cy. The  individual  man,  they  would  perceive,  should 
soon  become  conscious  of  personal  ability  ;  and  truth  would 
govern  the  world,  which  physical  force  has  only  degrad- 
ed. God  governs  man  by  gospel,  not  by  law — by  con- 
science, not  by  force. 

But  it  is  time  this  discussion  should  be  concluded.     I 
will  close  it  by  remarking  on  its  individual  application  in 


220  LECTURES  ON 

the  differing  circumstances  of  society.  That  I  may  be  un- 
derstood, permit  me  to  state  a  particular  case.  Saul  of  Tar- 
sus was  converted  from  his  persecuting  purposes,  and  en- 
listed in  the  support  of  the  great  cause  he  had  been 
attempting  to  overthrow.  His  history  is  supposed  not  only 
to  exhibit  more  power  than  my  doctrine  has  conceded  ; 
but  to  be  a  good  sample  of  Jehovah's  ordinary  proceed- 
ings, in  bringing  sinners  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  I 
remark  concerning  it,  1.  That  it  occurred  in  the  age  of 
miracles.  The  new  dispensation  was  established  by  such 
exhibitions  of  divine  power,  and  men  were  thereby  con- 
vinced of  the  truth  of  Christ's  pretensions  as  Mediator. 
Hundreds  of  others  had  been  in  like  manner  convinced. 
No  one  can  calculate  on  such  a  peculiar  interference  now; 
for  the  new  dispensation  has  been  long  since  established. 
2.  Paul  was,  by  this  means,  professedly  called  to  the 
apostleship.  In  truth,  it  was  his  official  designation,  and 
not  his  conversion,  which  formed  the  object  of  this  inter- 
view. God  appeared  "to  him  as  he  did  to  Abraham,  when 
he  constituted  him  the  heir  of  the  world ;"  as  he  did  to 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  when  he  selected  them  rather  than  Ish* 
mael  and  Esau,  and  renewed  his  "covenant"  with  them;  or 
as  he  did  to  Moses  in  the  burning  bush,  when  Israel  was  to 
be  brought  to  the  land  of  promise.  And  who  would  inter- 
pret any  of  those  events,  as  a  sample  of  God's  sovereignty 
in  conversion!  No  one.  The  case  is  again' lifted  above 
the  ordinary  occurrences  of  our  own  times  ;  is  exhibited  as 
belonging  to  that  peculiar  age  ;  and  is  to  be  interpreted  on 
official  principles.  3.  Both  the  miracle  of  the  divine  mani- 
festation and  the  call  to  the  apostleship,  though  above  or- 
dinary occurrences,  appealed  to  Saul's  mind  and  heart. 
And  throughout  his  entire  course,  no  man  appears  more 
conscious  of  personal  responsibility,  nor  has  any  one  ever 
manifested  a  deeper  solicitude  to  fulfil  its  claims.  He  stu- 
died closely,  thought  profoundly,  labored  industriously, 
and  closed  his  life  rejoicing  in  the  testimony  of  a  good 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  221 

conscience.  Had  he  not  done  so,  notwithstanding  the 
extraordinary  circumstances  which  roused  his  spirit  to 
thought  and  action,  he  might  have  preached  the  gospel  to 
others,  and  have  been  a  cast-a-way  himself;  or,  like  Ba- 
laam, he  would  have  sunk  into  perdition  unsanctified  by 
his  official  honors.  This  case,  therefore,  offers  no  opposi- 
tion to  the  doctrine  advanced  ;  but  lends  all  its  influence 
to  establish  and  maintain  the  principles  I  have  advocated, 
and  sheds  all  its  glories  upon  the  dignified  theme— per- 
sonal RESPONSIBILITY. 

This  cultivation  of  mind,  this  watchfulness  over  self,  this 
careful  improvement  of  privileges,  and  this  conscientious 
regard  of  circumstances,  which  so  highly  distinguished  the 
apostle,  and  so  strongly  marked  his  career,  every  moralist 
should  exhibit.     But  the  exhibition  must  necessarily  be  ex- 
ceedingly diversified.     The  varieties  of  human  life  are  end- 
less.    There  are  babes,  young  men,  and  fathers.    One  por- 
tion of  human  beings  is  described  as  the  image  and  glory 
of  God ;  and  another  as  the  glory  of  the  man.     Some  are 
rich,  and  others  .are  poor;  some  are  learned,  and  others  are 
unlearned.     The  mechanic  is  not  the  chieftain  ;  nor  is  the 
divine  the  physician.     Mind  is  developed  under  different 
auspices,  in  different  countries,  and  by  the  excitement  of  dif- 
ferent objects.     Empires  rise  or  fall,  and  social  habits  are 
revolutionized  by  the  change.     War  is  waged,  or  peace  is 
proclaimed,  and  new  associations  are  immediately  formed, 
or  new  habits  of  action  are  required.  Each  age  has  its  own 
peculiarities,  and  each  series  of  ages  seems  but  to  afford  a 
proportionate  period,  for  the  revolutions  which  belong  to  our 
political  or  moral  atmosphere.     False  prophets  mingle  with 
the  sons  of  God,  and  these  are  at  last  not  unfrequently  led 
away  to  deserve  the  fate  of  apostates.  Primitive  simplicity 
has  yielded  to  the  pageantry  of  the  papal  hierarchy;  and  re- 
formation seems  to  carry  the  attributes  of  "  the  man  of  sin" 
into  her  professedly  more  accurate  organization.  And  do  the- 
ologians expect  to  reduce  all  these  discordancies  to  their  stan- 
19* 


o-2-2  LECTURES  ON 

dard  of  uniformity?  or  hope,  by  a  creed,  to  relieve  the  fearful 
distraction  ?  Who  can  preside  over  such  moral  desolation 
save  the  mediatorial  prince  ?  What  secondary  agent  can 
control  such  excited  passions,  or  such  multifarious  interests, 
save  conscience,  grown  enlightened  and  vigorous  ?  And  how 
can  harmony  be  produced  by  abstract  legislation  ?  or  by 
any  other  means  than  the  sympathies  of  a  living  inter- 
course, creating  reciprocal  confidence,  and  operating  by  the 
principle  of  faith  ? 

Thus  Jehovah,  well  estimating  human  affairs,  and  see- 
ing the  end  from  the  beginning,  prescribes.     The  lordship 
he  reserves  to  himself;  his  ministers  must  keep  knowledge, 
that  the  people  may  learn  the  truth  from  their  lips ;  and 
they  must  divide  to  each  one  his  portion  in  due  season. 
A  o-ood  conscience,  faith  as  the  result  of  conviction,  and 
forbearance  amid  varieties  of  opinion  and  interest,  form  the 
prominent  items  of  the  moral  code  he  has  given  :  and  when 
the  ministr}-  come  forward  with  their  substitute — power, 
terror,   excitement,  feeling — and  deceive  the  people   and 
themselves  by  tlxe  representatives  of  the  good  that  is  done, 
they  try  a  fearful  experiment  over  which  succeeding  gene- 
rations may  weep.     In  such  a  social  state,  philosophy  is 
sure  to  be  laughed  to  scorn  as  a  pagan  or  infidel  heresy  ; 
and  the  love  of  wisdom  must  give  place  to  the  ebullitions 
of  undisciplined  feeling.     The   intelligent  stand  aloof,  too 
timid  or  too  powerless  to  stem  the  current ;  or  take  refuge  in 
infidelity,  vainly  hoping  to  find  something  more  coincident 
with  common  sense. 

Such  is  the  present  state  of  society  ;  and  if,  in  describing 
it,  I  incur  a  harsh  condemnation,  my  refuge  is — a  good  con- 
science and  the  Master's  truth.  But  however  the  censure 
may  be  expressed,  the  revival  and  education  of  the  moral 
sense,  now  become  puerile  by  the  oppression  of  authority  or 
the  force  of  prejudice,  is  the  great  object  of  the  Spirit's  opera- 
tions; is  the  philosophy  of  faith  ;  and  is  the  mystery  in  all 
those  laborings  of  individual  mind,  while  seeking  to  sus- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  223 

pend  its  eternal  destinies  on  its  own  convictions,  or  while  as- 
piring after  "salvation"  as  "the  end  of  its  own  faith." 


LECTURE  XVII. 


Infants — Sins  of  ignorance — Characteristics  of  the  two  co- 
venants— Mystery  and  knowledge — Law  and  Gospel  in 
their  results  in  view  of  conscience — Social  influence — 
Annual  atonement  typical  of  Christ's  sacrifice — Sin  taken 
away — Relation  of  children  to  the  mediatorial  institute — 
Sin  against  law — Si?i  against  gospel — Theological  mis- 
takes. 

In  view  of  the  application  of  the  general  principles  of 
moral  government,  a  question  remains  to  which  we  have 
had,  thus  far,  no  fair  opportunity  of  turning  our  attention. 
It  is  this — What  is  the  relation  of  infants  to  the  mediato- 
rial administration  ?  Are  they  to  be  considered  as  sinners  ? 
Are  they  sinners  by  an  inbred  corruption  ?  or  can  they  be 
such  only  by  actual  transgression  ?  Were  they  sinners  be- 
fore they  were  born,  as  Augustine  taught  ?  or  do  they  sin 
as  soon  as  they  are  born,  knowingly  violating  divine  statutes  ? 
See  what  multitudes  die  !  What  becomes  of  them  ?  Are 
they  saved  or  lost  ?  Are  any  of  them  saved — any  of  them 
lost?  Can  any  light  be  shed  on  their  fate  ?  or  is  it  a  dark, 
mysterious,  convulsing  theme,  on  which  it  is  our  wisdom  to 
be  silent  and  submissive  ?  These  are  thrilling  questions  to 
the  parental  heart,  waking  up  its  deepest  sensations.  And 
they  are  scarcely  less  interesting,  as  topics  of  moral  science, 
to  the  philosophic  theologian. 

You  are,  no  doubtfully  aware  of  the  varied  views,  and 
of  the  frequent  and  protracted  controversies,  which  this  in- 
teresting subject  has  originated.     Perhaps  you  feel  that  it 


2-24  LECTURES  ON 

is  a  branch  of  morals  on  which  but  little  light  has  been 
thrown.  For  yourselves  you  can  speak  with  no  confidence, 
and  you  know  no  one  who  can.  Certain  common  sense 
ideas  which  seem  to  be  true,  which  you  wish  to  be  true, 
and  which,  if  true,  would  relieve  your  anxieties,  occasion- 
ally flash  upon  your  minds.  But  theologians  have  perplex- 
ed you  by  their  subtle  speculations.  Divine  justice  is  in 
your  estimation  such  an  abstruse  matter,  defined  by  no 
rule,  and  regulated  by  nothing  but  the  secret  will  of  God  ; 
and  divine  mercy  is  so  entirely  resolved  into  a  mere  sover- 
eignty, which  acts  by  no  established  principles  that  arc 
within  the  reach  of  the  human  mind,  or  whose  reasons 
must  be  reserved  for  another  world,  that  you  are  fearfully 
embarrassed.  Have  your  infants,  who,  while  they  live,  are 
in  the  midst  of  death,  and  whose  numerous  ailments  give 
you  so  much  anxiety  both  by  day  and  night — have  those, 
whom  death  has  borne  from  your  embrace,  and  cast  as 
mouldered  ruins  into  the  grave,  any  interest  in  the  cross  of 
Christ?  Have  they  been  delivered  from  the  entangle- 
ments of  "  the  sin  of  the  world  ?"  The  multitude  of  their 
acts  which  yourselves  condemned  as  wrong — are  these  con- 
demned as  sin  by  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  ?  Can — shall 
such  sin  be  forgiven  for  Christ's  sake  ?  Will  the  Prince  of 
life  bring;  our  children  along  with  those  who  have  "fallen 
asleep  in  him?"  or  shall  they  appear  to  be  cast  off  with 
them  who  know  not  God  ?  Every  query,  clothe  it  in  what 
language  you  may,  goes  to  the  Jieart,  and,  perhaps,  remains 
unanswered  ;  or  hope  is  distracted  by  fear,  and  no  assurance 
cm  be  cherished.  Perhaps  you  even  now  rebuke  me  for 
adverting  to  the  painful  topic,  and  tell  me — "  all  has  been 
said  that  can  be  said — it  is  cruel  to  torture  us  into  an  ex- 
citement, you  have  no  power  to  allay."  But  the  candle  of 
the  Lord,  as  I  believe,  has  shone  upon  our  path  thus  far. 
perhaps  wTe  may  take  it,  and  go  a  step  farther. 

In  this  course  of  "  lectures"  I  have  so  often  been  called 
to  contemplate  the  characteristics  of  the  two  dispensations, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT,  225 

and  to  array  them  before  you  in  a  form  seemingly  so  novel, 
that  almost  every  subject  belonging  to  moral  science  ap- 
pears to  participate  in  that  novelty.  Even  the  interesting 
topic  before  us,  it  will  be  seen,  has  some  close  associations 
with  these  two  covenants;  and  associations  which  very 
few  have  been  induced  to  notice.  It  is  true  that,  in  the 
controversy  to  which  infant  baptism  has  given  rise,  very 
distinct  and  frequent  reference  has  been  made,  and  justly 
made,  to  the  circumcision  of  infants  as  beloneino-  to  the 
Abrahamic  and  Sinaitic  covenants,  and  as  consequently 
being  both  an  evangelic  and  a  national  privilege  ;  to  the 
unequivocal  and  unqualified  interest,  which  children  are 
thus  demonstrated  to  possess  in  the  administration  of  the 
divine  government  upon  earth  ;  and  to  the  elemental  prin- 
ciples of  organized  communities,  which  were  so  promptly 
and  fully  recognised  in  the  formal  instruments  alluded  to. 
My  present  remarks  however,  though  I  may  have  occasion 
in  some  manner  to  incorporate  those  general  considerations, 
are  aside  of  that  familiar  train  of  argument.  There  is  ano- 
ther spot  in  this  ecclesiastical  field,  over  which  the  star  that 
has  guided  me  thus  far,  has  rested  ;  and  my  own  heart,  net 
only  as  that  of  a  moral  reasoner  deeply  committed  in  his 
own  speculations,  but  of  one  who  feels  that  he  has  no  slight 
interest  in  the  subject  under  consideration — my  own  heait 
has  been  both  delighted  and  satisfied. 

You  remember  that  Paul  has  described  the  church  under 
the  Jewish  dispensation  as  a  child  under  age,  and  as  differ- 
ing nothing  from  a  servant.  "When  we  were  children,'' 
he  remarks,  "we  were  in  bondage  under  the  elements  cf 
the  world."  On  the  other  hand,  the  church  under  the  gos- 
pel dispensation  he  describes  as  an  heir  arrived  at  full  age. 
"  Thou  art  no  more  a  servant"  he  said,  "  butascm."  "  The 
fulness  of  the  time — the  time  appointed  of  the  Father — 
has  come  ;  and  God  has  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  in- 
to your  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father."  God's  deportment 
to  the  Jewish  people  was  therefore  a  typical  exhibition  of 


226  LECTURES  ON" 

the  ecclesiastical  relations  of  children.  And  it  is  by  an- 
alysing this  type,  following  it  up  on  the  scriptural  page, 
and  noticing  those  coincident  views  which  may  occur,  that 
I  expect  to  present  our  whole  subject  in  the  most  interest- 
ing and  instructive  light.  In  framing  my  argument,  you 
may  be  solicited  to  start  at  a  point,  apparently  very  dis- 
stant  from  the  object  I  propose  to  reach.  But  you  must  al- 
low me  an  opportunity  to  gather  materials,  and  to  lay  down 
premises  distinctly  and  fairly  ;  that  the  conclusion  may  ap- 
pear with  becoming  strength,  when  it  shall  be  brought  out. 
Mr.  Tucker  once  observed,  while  framing  a  like,  but  long- 
er, and  more  abstruse  argument,  and  when  making  simi- 
lar preparations  for  future  conclusions — "  While  this  is  do- 
ing, we  work  under  ground.  You  see  we  are  very  busy, 
but  to  what  purpose  is  not  so  readily  visible  ;  nothing  ap- 
pears useful,  nothing  convenient,  nothing  serviceable  for 
the  purposes  of  life.  Have  but  patience  until  we  come 
above  ground,  and  then  perhaps  you  will  see  a  plan  arising 
that  promises  something  habitable  and  commodious,  and 
which  could  not  have  stood  secure  without  the  pains  we 
have  been  taking  underneath."  This,  you  remember,  was 
my  urgent  entreaty  when  this  course  of  lectures  was  com- 
menced :  and  those  who  would  not,  or  did  not,  patiently 
listen  to  the  detail  necessary  for  the  statement  of  the  pre- 
mises, are  even  now  embarrassed  by  the  conclusions  al- 
ready drawn,  and  cannot  see  how  they  have  been  reached. 
The  apostle,  whom  the  Spirit  employed  as  the  great  ex- 
pounder of  ecclesiastical  law,  when  he  undertook  to  sketch 
out  the  ground  on  which  "  the  High  Priest  of  our  profes- 
sion" should  perform  his  official  duties,  was  necessarily  led 
to  compare  the  two  covenants  together.  These  official  du- 
ties included  two  distinct  series  of  services — the  sacrificial 
ceremonies,  and  those  that  attended  the  entrance  into  the 
Holiest  of  all,  and  that  were  typified  by  the  Jewish  high- 
priest  on  the  great  day  of  expiation.  In  stating  the  parti- 
culars of  the  annual  atonement,  the  apostle  remarks,  that 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  <%ft 

the  high  priest  offered  for  himself,  and  then  for  the  errors 
of  the  people.  Now  the  argument  which  I  am  about  to 
develop,  will  turn  upon  the  import  of  this  phrase  "  the  er- 
rors of  the  people  ;"  and  before  that  argument  shall  be 
closed,  I  hope  to  present  before  you,  and  in  a  very  plain 
form,  the  relation  of  infants  to  the  mediatorial  admi- 
nistration. 

The  term  errors,  by  which  our  translators  thought  pro- 
per to  render  the  greek  word  used  by  the  apostle,  is  suffi- 
ciently general  to  hide  any  peculiarity  that  may  belong  to 
it ;  and  to  suffer  a  reader,  unacquainted  with,  or  inatten- 
tive to,  the  original,  to  pass  on,  without  suspecting  that  the 
whole  of  the  sentiment,  intended  to  be  conveyed  to  his 
mind,  has  not  been  expressed.  The  commentators  have 
noticed  this  circumstance,  and,  by  their  critical  emendations 
and  remarks,  have  endeavored  more  accurately  and  fully 
to  state  the  apostle's  idea.  I  shall  quote  the  observations 
of  a  few  of  them — those  which rare  at  hand — by  way  of 
affording  you  an  extended  view  of  the  peculiarity  adverted 
to ;  and  of  bespeaking  for  the  general  argument  the  favor- 
able consideration  of  those,  who  are  disposed  to  regulate 
their  own  opinions  by  the  authority  of  commentators. 

Dr.  Scott  translated  the  word — "Ignorances,"  and  re- 
marks— "  It  seems  to  denote  all  those  sins,  for  which  sa- 
crifices were  appointed ;  indeed  all,  but  those  presumptu- 
ous sins,  which  were  punished  by  death." 

Dr.  Clarke  observes  in  explanation — "Transgressions  of 
which  they  were  not  conscious:  there  were  so  many  nice- 
ties in  the  ritual  worship  of  the  jews,  and  so  many  ways 
in  which  they  might  offend  against  the  laws,  and  incur 
guilt,  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  institute  sacrifices  to 
atone  for  these  sins  of  ignorance.  And  as  the  high-priest 
was  also  clothed  with  infirmity,  he  required  to  have  an  in- 
terest in  the  same  sacrifice,  on  the  same  account.  This 
was  a  national  sacrifice ;  and  by  it  the  people  understood 
that  they  were  absolved  from  all  the  errors  of  the  past  year ; 


228  LECTURES  ON 

and  that  they  now  had  a  renewed  right  of  access  to  the 
mercy-seat." 

Dr.  Whitby  explains  as  follows — "And  for  the  igno- 
rance of  the  people.  It  is  certain  that  the  law  allowed  of 
sacrifices  for  sins  committed  not  out  of  mere  ignorance,  i.  e. 
for  lying,  and  false  swearing.  We  therefore  must  either 
say  with  Vatablus  and  Munster,  in  locum,  that  sins  com- 
mitted through  the  violence  of  our  passions  and  afFections 
are  called  sins  of  ignorance,  and  so  they  stand  opposed  to 
sins  of  presumption,  or  that  the  sins  of  the  people  are  here 
so  styled,  because  they  are  mostly  such." 

Dr.  Macknight,  after  having  assigned  to  the  atonement  by 
the  ordinary  priests  its  own  place,  considering  them  as 
God's  ministers,  by  whom  his  government  as  king  of  Israel 
was  carried  on,  and  by  whose  service  a  political  pardon 
from  Jehovah  as  the  head  of  the  Jewish  commonwealth 
was  extended,  goes  on  to  remark — "  The  sacrifices  offered 
by  the  high  priest  on  theHay  of  expiation,  had  a  quite  dif- 
ferent effect.  They  were  offered  for  the  wtiiole  nation. 
to  make  atonement  for  the  sins  which  they  had  ignorantly 
committed  during  the  preceding  year,  and  to  open  the  ta- 
bernacles to  their  acts  of  worship  during  the  succeeding 
year.  And  to  show  this,  the  high-priest  carried  the  blood 
of  these  sacrifices  into  the  inward  tabernacle,  and  sprink- 
led it  before  the  symbol  of  the  divine  presence." 

Dr.  Owen  observes  on  the  passage — n  To  offer  for  the 
errors  of  the  people,  is  to  offer  for  all  their  sins,  of  what 
nature  soever  they  were.  And  they  are  thus  called,  be- 
cause indeed  there  is  no  such  predominancy  of  malice  in 
any  sin  in  the  world,  as  wherein  there  is  not  a  mixture  of 
error,  either  national  or  practical — of  the  mind  or  of  the 
heart — wThich  is  the  cause  or  a  great  occasion  of  it.  Here 
indeed  is  the  original  of  all  sin.  The  mind  being  filled 
with  darkness  and  ignorance,  alienates  the  whole  soul 
from  the  life  of  God,  &c." 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  229 

But  enough.  These  quotations  are  sufficient  to  show 
that,  even  when  the  original  term  is  so  rendered  as  to  ex- 
press the  peculiarity  of  the  apostolic  idea,  commentators 
throw  the  whole  subject  unexplained  upon  the  public  mind. 
The  difficulty  must  lie  deeper  than  they  seem  to  have  im- 
agined. Some  other  political  idea  must  remain  behind  the 
sectarian  vail,  that  separates  them  from  the  holiest  of  all, 
which  idea  they  have  not  discerned  ;  otherwise  they  would 
speak  and  write  more  intelligently  in  their  comments  on 
this  peculiar  phrase.  For  the  same  reason,  or  because 
the  theological  sentiments  of  their  age  seemed  to  require 
it,  our  translators  have  used  a  very  indefinite  term ;  or,  in 
the  changes  to  which  every  living  language  is  liable,  that 
term  did  not  mean  in  their  day  precisely  what  it  means 
now.  Understand  me  then.  When  the  apostle  declares 
that,  on  the  great  day  of  expiation,  the  high-priest  offered 
for  the  ignorances  of  the  people  ;  while  the  Mosaic  statute, 
which  called  for  the  sacrifice,  specified  "the  uncleanness 
of  the  children  of  Israel,"  and  "their  transgressions  in  all 
their  sins,"  I  intend  to  ask  the  broad  question — what  does 
he  design  to  express?  Was  the  uncleanness  of  the  child- 
ren of  Israel — concerning  which  a  prophet  confessed,  "We 
are  all  as  an  unclean  thing,  and  all  our  righteousnesses  are  as 
filthy  rags" — the  ignorance  of  the  people  ?  Were  all  their 
transgressions  in  all  their  sins,  ignorances — sins  of  igno- 
rance ?  or,  to  vary  the  question,  that  its  whole  force  may 
be  felt — does  not  the  statute  bring  the  uncleanness  and 
transgressions  of  the  children  of  Israel  together  as  a  whole, 
for  which  one  annual  sacrifice  was  offered  ?  and  does  not 
the  apostle  intend  to  express  that  very  idea  in  the  phrase 
he  employs — ignorances  of  the  people  ?  and  that  with  the 
view  of  exhibiting  in  its  own  proper  connexions,  the  one 
great  and  all  sufficient  sacrifice  of  Christ  for  the  sin  of 

THE  WORLD  ? 

These  questions,  or  the  one  question  thrown  into  these 
different  shapes,  can  be  answered  only  by  referring  to  the 
Vol.  II— 20 


230  LECTURES  ON 

comparison  of  the  two  covenants,  which  is  drawn  out  in 
the  context.  By  carefully  noticing  the  characteristics  of 
these  two  institutes,  the  difficulty,  which  has  so  evidently 
perplexed  the  commentators,  may  possibly  be  removed  ; 
and  a  great  variety  of  scriptural  texts,  or  phrases,  may  be 
more  easily  explained.     Such  at  least,  is  my  impression. 

The  Lord  had  spoken  by  Jeremiah ;  and  in  the  argument 
pursued  by  the  apostle,*  the  declarations  made  to  the  pro- 
phet are  quoted,  and  the  attributes  of  the  two  covenants 
are  stated.  For  the  sake  of  order,  and  in  view  of  the 
phrase  before  us,  the  following  arrangement  may  be  neces- 
sary. 

1.  "  This  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house 
of  Israel  after  those  days,  saith  the  Lord  ;  I  wi/ 1  put  my  laws 
into  their  mind,  and  write  them  in  their  hearts :  and  they 
Bhall  not  teach  every  man  his  neighbor,  and  every  man  his 
brother,  saying  know  the  Lord  :  for  all  shall  know  me, 
from  the  least  unto  the  greatest."  Here  knowledge  is,  in 
the  most  unequivocal  terms,  declared  to  be  the  character- 
istic of  those  who  live  under  the  new  dispensation. 

This  covenant  is  not  like,  or  "  according  to  the  covenant 
that  I  made  with  their  fathers  in  the  day  when  I  took  them 
by  the  hand  to  lead  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  be- 
cause they  continued  not  in  my  covenant,  and  I  regarded 
them  not,  saith  the  Lord."  What  is  the  difference  ?  The 
particular  which  is  mentioned,  is,  that  under  the  new  cov- 
enant the  people  should  have  knowledge  ;  of  course  un- 
der the  old  covenant  the  people  had  not  that  knowledge. 
Ignorance  was  their  characteristic.  You  can  readily  dis- 
tinguish, with  such  a  statement  before  you,  between  sins 
committed  under  the  two  covenants — the  one  being  sins  of 
ignorance,  and  the  other  being  committed,  against  know- 
ledge. When,  therefore,  the  apostle  is  speaking  of  the  an- 
nual atonement,  which  regarded  the  nation  as  a  whole, 
the  phrase,  "ignorances  of  the  people,"  is  most  expres- 
*Heb.  viii.  7—13. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  231 

sive ;  and  particularly  when  you  consider  that  hi3  design 
was  to  show  the  superiority  of  the  new  covenant. 

This  symbolical  illustration, — I  say  symbolical,  for  it  is 
not  intended  to  be  asserted  that  the  iews  knew  nothing — 
is  very  common  in  the  scriptures.  In  fact  the  scriptures 
have  been  given  in  connexion  with  the  two  covenants,  and 
are  Jehovah's  "rule  of  faith  and  practice"  to  those  who, 
by  election,  have  been  placed  under  these  covenants. 
Paul,  drawing  the  contrast  on  another  occasion,  remarks — 
"  Ye  are  manifestly  declared  to  be  the  epistle  of  Christ, 
written  not  with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  ; 
not  in  tables  of  stone,  but  in  fleshly  tables  of  the  heart." 
He  does  not  mean  to  assert,  that  the  jews  had  no  divine 
laws  incorporated  in  their  nature,  or  inscribed  on  their 
hearts;  for  he  says  that  even  "  the  gentiles  show  the  work 
of  the  law  written  on  their  hearts."  He  is  speaking  of  dif- 
ferent communities  as  compared  with  each  other,  and  of 
the  two  covenants  as  symbols  of  law  and  gospel.  This 
being  understood,  I  may  ask,  what  is  the  difference  be- 
tween two  communities,  when  one  has  truth  in  a  series  of 
hieroglyphics,  and  the  other  has  it  if  written  on  the  heart?" 
Is  it  not  simply  this  ? — the  one  community  is  ignorant  and 
the  other  is  intelligent. 

The  same  apostle  again  speaks  of  the  mystery  which  in 
other  ages  was  not  made  known  unto  the  sons  of  men,  as 
it  is  now  revealed  unto  his  holy  apostles  and  prophets  by 
the  Spirit:" — of  those  glorious  things  which  "eye  had  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  had  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man  to  conceive  ;"  and  "  of  the  mystery  which  hath  been 
hid  from  ages,  and  from  generations,  but  is  now  made 
manifest  to  the  saints ;  to  whom  God  would  make  known 
what  is  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  this  mystery  among  the 
gentiles,  which  is  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory."  A 
mystery  is  a  secret — a  thing  not  known.  The  age  of  mys- 
teries is  therefore  the  age  of  ignorance :  but  when  myste-. 


232  LECTURES  ON 

lies  are  revealed  or  uncovered,  and  that  which  was  secret 
is  brought  to  light,  the  age  of  knowledge  has  arrived. 

Again  this  apostle  represents  the  Jewish  church  as  a 
child — an  heir  under  age ;  but  the  new  testament  church 
he  describes  as  an  heir  arrived  at  full  age.  On  the  one 
hand  you  have  the  ignorance  of  childhood,  and  on  the 
other  the  knowledge  of  mature  life.  Even  the  prophets 
sat  down  to  ponder  over,  made  an  earnest  and  laborious  ef- 
fort to  understand,  the  very  mysteries  which  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  employed  them  to  testify.  They  were  all,  without 
any  exception,  in  a  state  of  tutelage.  The  law  was  their 
"  schoolmaster."  As  incompetent  to  regulate  themselves, 
because  not  sufficiently  informed,  they  were  "  under  tutors 
and  governors."  They  wistfully  looked  forward  with  j uve- 
nile  anticipations,  and  not  unfrequently  with  juvenile  fret- 
fulness,  as  though  "the  ways  of  the  Lord  were  not  equal," 
to  the  time  appointed  by  the  Father.  They  desired  to  see 
the  things  which  we  see,  and  did  not  see  them  ;  and  to  hear 
the  things  which  we  hear,  and  did  not  hear  them.  Many 
a  youthful  conception  is  but  the  play  of  an  untutored  fan- 
cy ;  many  a  boyish  desire  is  doomed  to  be  disappointed ; 
and  the  progress  from  infancy  to  manhood  is  slow,  and  de- 
pends upon  the  growth  of  intelligence.  The  infancy  of 
society  is  like  that  of  the  individual,  and  must  be  judged 
of  on  analogous  principles.  Many  mistakes  are,  in  such 
a  case,  committed  through  ignorance — mistakes  which  will 
not  occur,  when  information  shall  be  acquired  by  expe- 
rience. 

The  heathen  worM  itself  is  supposed  to  have  been  in  a 
like  situation.  Thi  fact  is  abundantly  proved  by  its  own 
history  ;  and  has  never  been  more  strikingly  displayed  than 
in  the  interesting  account  which  Luke  gives  of  Paul's  visit 
to  the  Athenians.  That  exceedingly  superstitious  people 
had  erected  an  altar — To  the  unknown  God.  This  in- 
scription as  emphatically  declared  the  condition  of  the  gen- 
tiles, as  the  Jewish  proverb — "the  fathers  have  eaten  a 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  <%$% 

sour  grape  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edo-e," 
declared  the  oppressive  character  of  the  Mosaic  ritual. 
Paul  promptly  availed  himself  of  a  fact  so  prominent  and 
characteristic,  and  said — "  Whom  therefore  ye  ignorant-- 
ly  worship,  him  declare  I  unto  you."  And  after  having 
pointedly  exposed  the  folly  of  their  idolatrous  system — for 
divine  truth  may  be  demonstrated  both  to  idolaters  and 
philosophers — he  added,  "The  times  of  this  ignorance 
God  winked  at;  but  now  commandeth  all  men  every  where 
to  repent."  Because  of  the  ignorance  of  the  gentile  world 
Jehovah  forbore ;  as  he  did  with  the  jews,  to  whom  he 
granted  "remission  of  sins  through  forbearance,"  and  in 
view  of  the  righteousness  afterward  to  be  wrought  out  by  the 
Mediator.  If  you  carefully  consider  these  peculiarities, 
you  cannot  fail  to  understand  what  the  apostle  meant  by 
"the  ignorances  of  the  people,"  for  which  the  high-priest 
offered  on  the  great  day  of  atonement.  The  people  lived 
in  times  of  ignorance,  and  their  sins  were  sins  of  igno- 
rance. 

2.  A  second  point  of  contrast  between  the  two  cove  • 
nants,  which  Jehovah  states  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah, 
and  which  Paul  quotes,  is  expressed  in  the  following  lan- 
guage— The  people  whose  fathers  were  brought  out  of 
Egypt,  continued  not  in  my  covenant,  and  I  regarded  them 
not,  saith  the  Lord.  "But  under  the  new  covenant,  which 
I  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel,  I  will  be  merciful 
to  their  unrighteousness,  and  their  sins  and  their  iniquities 
will  I  remember  no  more." — This  language  appears  to  be 
involved,  and  there  may  be  some  difficulty  in  getting  at 
the  precise  ideas  intended  to  be  conveyed.  Theologians 
have  studied  the  bible  so  much  as  a  compend  of  abstract 
philosophy,  and  have  so  entirely  forgotten  that  it  is  the 
rule  of  faith  and  practice  in  connexion  with  the  two  cove- 
nants, that  they  have  lost  the  "key"  when  th«y  would 
open  up  its  phraseology.  Quitting  these  abstractions,  let 
us  place  ourselves  within  scriptural  restrictions* 
20* 


$34  LECTURES  ON 

The  Jewish  dispensation,  as  has  been  shown  at  large, 
was  a  symbolical  exhibition  of  law.     By  law  no  one  can 
be  saved,  because  no  one  can  obey  it.  The  hebrews,  when 
put  under   the   law,  could  no  more  obey  it   than  other 
men.     In  fact  the  ecclesiastical  operation,  which  placed 
them  under  it,  was  intended  by  the  mediatorial  sovereign  to 
show   to   the    world  that  none  of  our   sinful  race    could 
obey  law ;  and  thereby  to  shut  all  up  to  the  faith  which 
should  afterwards  be  revealed.  Of  course  the  jews  sinned 
— sinned  like  Adam — and  consequently  incurred  death. 
For  this  reason  the  lawgiver,  as  their  judge,  did   not  re- 
gard, but  rejected  them.     Hence  the  Jewish  law  is  descri- 
bed to  be   "the  letter  that  killeth" — "the  ministration  of 
condemnation" — "  the  ministration  of  death,  written  and 
engraven  in  stones."     On  the  other  hand,  the  new  dispen- 
sation is  an  exhibition  of  gospel.     It  is  constructed  on  the 
finished  righteousness  of  the  second  Adam,  and  substitutes 
faith  as  the  principle  of  moral  obligation.     Mercy  is  its 
appropriate  attribute ;  for  it  is  enacted  in  favor  of  those 
who  are  encompassed  by  the  "  infirmities  of  the  flesh," 
and  who  carry  with  them   "  a  body  of  sin  and  of  death." 
Apply  the  principle  of  law  to  these — "Do  and  live,  trans- 
gress   and  die" — and  they  also  certainly  perish  ;  as  our 
doctrine  has  uniformly  asserted,  and  as  the  history  of  the 
Jewish  nation  has  abundantly  demonstrated.     If  then  the 
jews  had  no  dependence   but  their  own  law,  they  were 
entirely  ignorant  of  salvation  and  life.     The  typical  "sha- 
dows," which  belonged  to  their  institute,  referred  them  to 
the  coming  Saviour,  and  thereby  was  imparted  to  them 
what  knowledge  they  had. 

Accordingly  the  apostle,  when  commenting  upon  the 
official  services  of  the  Jewish  high-priest  on  the  da}r  of 
annual  atonement,  remarks  that  the  gifts  and  sacrifices 
then  offered  were  a  figure — a  parable  for  the  time  then 
present;  but  they  "  could  not  make  him  that  did  the  service 
perfect,  as  pertaining  to  the  conscience."     The  reason  is 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  235 

abundantly  evident.  The  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats,  aa 
any  rational  man  may  distinctly  see,  could  no  more 
take  away  sin,  than  baptism  can  be  regeneration,  or  the 
bread  and  wine  become  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Re- 
deemer, under  a  priestly  consecration.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  blood  of  Christ,  having  offered  himself  through 
the  Eternal  Spirit,  purges  the  conscience  from  dead  works r 
The  conscience — a  failure  here — no  perfection  here — 
ceremonies  that  could  not  remove  its  guilt — unsanctified— 
unenlightened — with  no  sense  of  pardon  and  acceptance 
— how  deep  the  darkness  !  how  dreadful  the  ignorance  ! 
But  the  conscience  purged,  sanctified,  perfected — how 
blissful  its  peace !  how  heavenly  its  assurance !  how  lumi- 
nous its  knowledge!  Life  and  immortality  brought  to 
light,  are  shining  all  around,  and  the  sure  and  steadfast 
hope  of  heaven  spreads  its  glory  over  life  and  death. 

An  enlightened  conscience,  responding  to  the  claims  of 
moral  obligation,  sustaining  hope  in  view  of  the  final 
judgment,  and  bearing  a  good  testimon}'"  in  the  presence  of 
the  Searcher  of  hearts,  is  the  greatest  blessing,  is  the  rich- 
est treasure  of  a  redeemed  man.  Without  this,  God  with 
all  his  glory,  heaven  wTith  all  its  bliss,  could  not  make  a 
human  being  happy.  You  never  heard  of  a  saint,  a  pro- 
phet, nor  an  apostle,  rejoicing  or  peaceful  on  any  other 
terms.  The  pardoned,  the  regenerated,  the  sanctified  man, 
is  the  heir  of  glory.  Mere  education — mere  literature — 
mere  philosophy — a  mere  acquaintance  with  theories  and 
their  external  symbols,  never  satisfied  the  human  mind. 
Satan  might,  and  does  believe,  but  he  trembles.  He  might 
transform  himself  into  an  angel  of  light,  but  would  not  be 
relieved  from  his  dreadful  fate.  Saul  of  Tarsus  could  ex- 
cel all  his  equals  in  native  mind  and  literary  acquisition ; 
and  yet,  with  all  his  official  pre-eminence,  ignorant ly 
"  think  that  he  ought  to  do  many  things  contrary  to  the 
name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  Aristotle,  Socrates,  Plata, 
and  a  host  of  others,  might  be  reputed  wLe — philosophic 


$36  LECTOftEU  ott 

— divine,  and  yet  leave  the  world  in  darkness ;  transmit 
theories,  and  distinctions,  and  subtleties  to  embarrass  and 
perplex  succeeding  generations,  and  substitute  "the  wis-^ 
dom  of  words"  for  truth.  Even  the  high-priest  of  the 
Lord  might  accurately  conduct  the  external  forms  of  di- 
vine worship,  and  yet  be  any  thing  else  than  infallible,  or 
"perfect  as  pertaining  to  the  conscience."  The  whole 
world,  at  this  moment,  waking  up  from  the  deadly  sleep 
of  centuries,  and  speaking  in  highest  strains  of  gratulation 
of  "the  march  of  intellect,"  has  yet  to  learn  that  intellec- 
tual cultivation,  without  the  resuscitation  of  the  moral  sense, 
will  not  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  coming  times.  Regene- 
ration is  the  only  principle  of  reform,  politically  as  well  as 
morally  considered.  Social  combinations,  and  multiplied 
days  and  ceremonies,  though  their  advocates  had  the 
"tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,"  and  "  though  they  had 
the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  understood  all  mysteries  and  all 
knowledge,  and  had  all  faith  so  that  they  could  remove 
mountains,"  could  only  deceive  sinners  by  the  miserable 
tones  of  "  sounding  brass  or  tinkling  cymbals."  Con- 
science must  be  enlightened  and  made  perfect.  Charity 
must  take  the  reins,  and  rule  and  bless  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
the  learned  and  the  unlearned.  If  this  be  the  moral  phi- 
losophy which  the  Mediator  propounds  by  his  Spirit,  it  is 
no  wonder  philosophy  has  failed  to  regenerate  the  world, 
and  that  the  nations,  misled  by  their  systems  of  political 
ethics,  have  been  "  all  as  an  unclean  thing,  and  all  their 
righteousnesses  as  filthy  rags."  When  Paul  then,  is  led  to 
describe  the  old  covenant  as  not  making  perfect  in  view  of 
conscience,  and  the  new  one  as  purging  the  conscience 
from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God,  he  may  well  use 
ignorance  and  knowledge  as  most  expressive  technical 
terms. 

Listen  to  the  Redeemer's  remarks.  You  remember  that 
he  addressed  the  multitude  in  parables,  but  explained  all 
things  to  his  disciples.   When  asked  why  he  did  so  ?  he  re- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  237 

plied — "  Because  it  is  given  to  you  to  know  the  myste- 
ries of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  to  them  it  is  not  given."* 
Their  position,  which  is  given  or  assigned  to  them,  is  un- 
der the  old  covenant,  which  was  a  parable.!  I  speak  to 
them  according  to  the  nature  of  the  dispensation  under 
which  they  live — an4  for  a  very  plain  reason.  They  are 
ignorant:  like  children,  they  have  not  their  "  senses  exer- 
cised by  reason  of  use  to  discern  both  good  and  evil." 
"  They  seeing,  see  not ;  and  hearing,  they  hear  not,  nei- 
ther do  they  understand."  But  unto  you  is  given  a  posi- 
tion under  the  new  covenant,  and  it  belongs  to  "you  to 
know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  "  Bless- 
ed are  your  eyes,  for  they  see  ;  and  your  ears,  for  they 
hear."  Like  children  arrived  at  "  full  age,"  and  havino; 
your  senses  exercised  by  use,  "strong  meat  belongeth"  to 
you.t  But  they  need  to  be  taught  "  the  first  principles  of 
the  oracles  of  God,"  because  they  are  "  unskilful  in  the 
word  of  righteousness."  "Wisdom"  is  spoken  "among 
them  that  are  perfect." 

Listen  again  to  the  Redeemer. — He  had  been  describing 
the  new  dispensation  under  the  figure  of  a  vine  and  its 
branches,  when  affording  to  his  disciples  a  train  of  prepara- 
tory instructions,  in  view  of  their  official  relations. — "  I  am," 
said  he,  "the  vine — the  true  vine.  My  Father  is  the  hus- 
bandman. Ye  are  the  branches.  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do 
whatever  I  command  you.  Henceforth  I  call  you  not  servants" 
— the  technical  term  under  the  old  covenant — for  the  servant 
knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth  ;  but  I  have  called  you 
friends ;  for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father,  I 
have  made  known  unto  you.  Ye  have  not  chosen  me3 
but  I  have  chosen  you,  and  ordained  you  that  ye  should  go 
and  bring  forth  much  fruit,  and  that  your  fruit  might  re- 
main :  that  whatever  ye  shall  ask  of  the  Father  in  my 
name,  he  may  give  it  you."  -Under  this  ecclesiastical  con- 
stitution of  knowledge  and  liberty  go,  and  preach  the  gos* 

*  Matt.  xiii.  11.  f  Heb.  ix.  9.        J  Heb.  v.  13,  14. 


238  LECTURES  ON 

pel  to  all  nations — to  every  creature. — Must  we  not  sup- 
pose that  the  disciples  understood  this  difference  between 
servants  and  friends — between  ignorance  and  knowledge  ; 
and  that  in  the  case  under  consideration.  Paul  is  using:  fa- 
miliar  Jewish  language  ? 

3.  Jehovah,  speaking  by  Jeremiah,  affords  us  a  third  point 
of  contrast  between  the  two  covenants?  "In  those  days,'* 
saith  he,  "  they  shall  say  no  more— The  fathers  have  eaten 
a  sour  grape,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge.  But 
every  one  shall  die  for  his  own  iniquity:  every  man  that 
eateth  the  sour  grape,  his  teeth  shall  be  set  on  edge." 
The  first  covenant,  as  a  symbolical  exhibition  of  law,  ex- 
emplifies the  action  of  social  influence  ;  like  the  law  given 
to  Adam,  the  breach  of  which  brought  death  into  our 
world  and  all  the  evils  we  are  enduring.  The  new  cove- 
nant, which  is  an  emblematic  exhibition  of  gospel,  is,  like 
gospel  itself,  constructed  on  personal  responsibility,  and 
exerts  no  social  influence  but  that  which  is  kind — mercy 
upon  children's  children. 

The  errors,  or  sins  of  ignorance,  of  which  Paul  speaks, 
and  for  which  the  annual  offering  was  presented,  were  the 
errors  of  the  people — of  the  whole  nation.  It  was 
therefore  an  official  service,  rendered  in  view  of  the  social 
principle,  as  an  attribute  of  the  legal  covenant  under  which 
"the  people"  lived:  or  it  regarded  that  thing  which  theo- 
logians have  called  imputation,  and  on  which  they  have 
reasoned  so  harshly.  And  may  not  sins,  committed  under 
the  action  of  social  influence,  be  correctly  enough  deno- 
minated sins  of  ignorance  ?  What  consciousness  can  a 
child  have  of  the  faults  of  its  parents  ?  These  committed 
the  sins — it  did  not.  Children  may  suffer  because  of  the 
errors  of  their  parents,  according  to  the  necessary  opera- 
tion of  the  political  or  social  principle.  They  may  be  con- 
scious that  they  are  suffering;  and  conscious  that  they  are 
suffering  on  account  of  parental  delinquencies;  but  of 
parental  sins  they  are  not,  nor  can  they  be  conscious,  be- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  939 

cause  they  never  committed  them.  Their  own  character 
may  remain  unhurt — their  own  integrity  may  be  unsullied, 
They  may  most  righteously,  and  most  severely,  condemn 
the  crimes  for  which  they  suffer,  and  yet  justify  the  action 
of  the  political  principle  which  involves  them  in  conse- 
quent suffering.  In  this  way  they  became  interested  in 
the  annual  atonement,  which  was  offered  for  sins  which 
they  did  not  commit,  which  did  not  rest  on  their  consciences 
as  their  own  guilt,  and  which  would  thus  be  to  them  mat- 
ters of  personal  ignorance. 

Again.  Under  the  force  of  social  institutions,  or  under 
the .  influence  of  parental  tuition  and  example,  children 
might  be  led  to  commit  the  same  offences,  by  which  their 
fathers  fell.  These  would  be  sins  of  ignorance  to  them ;  be- 
cause they  knew  no  better;  and  would  be  followed  by  cor- 
responding consequences,  because  causes  must  produce 
their  effects.  Here  then  would  arise  the  necessity  for  the 
annual  atonement,  with  its  peculiar  character,  and  in  all 
its  political  beatings.  And  that  provision  should  be  made 
for  such  a  case,  any  benevolent  or  evangelic  moralist  would 
promptly  admit.  To  deny  it,  is  to  sweep  away  the  very 
basis  on  which  the  gospel  rests ;  to  confound  social  and 
personal  responsibility  together ;  and  to  refer  for  hope  to 
some  arbitrary  statute,  which  can  have  no  foundation  in 
nature. 

To  show  you  that  mercy  not  only  may  be,  but  actually 
is,  extended  to  such  cases,  and  in  consideration  of  the  ig- 
norance they  imply,  I  quote  to  you  some  scriptural  exam- 
ples. The  crucifiers  of  our  Lord — you  are  wont  to  repro- 
bate their  crime  as  diabolically  malignant,  and  themselves 
as  the  vilest  murderers.  And  truly  it  was  a  most  atrocious 
deed  they  committed.  But  Jesus  prayed  for  them.  He 
said — "  Father  forgive  them."  And  why  should  they  be 
forgiven  ?  He  added — "  For  they  know  not  what  they 
do."  It  was  a  sin  of  ignorance.  They  did  it,  wTith  their 
own  hands — with  wicked  hands  ;  but  under  the  false  rea- 


240  LECTURES  ON 

sonings,  the  mistaken  notions,  and  the  erroneous  politics  of 
the  age,  which  had  been  handed  down  from  the  fathers. 
Blinded  by  a  false  philosophy,  they  knew  no  better.  Pe- 
ter declared  the  same  facts  when  he  said — "  And  now, 
brethren,  I  wot  that  through  ignorance  ye  did  it,  as  did 
also  your  rulers."  Paul  gives  the  same  testimony,  and  as- 
serts that  had  ''the  princes  of  this  world  known  the  wis- 
dom of  God  spoken  in  a  mystery,  they  would  not  have  cru- 
cified the  Lord  of  glory."  And  well  did  this  apostle  know 
how  to  sympathize  with  these  men — for  he  himself  was  a 
persecutor ;  and  telling  his  own  story,  he  frankly  declares — 
"  I  was  a  blasphemer,  and  a  persecutor,  and  injurious. 
But  I  obtained  mercy,  because  I  did  it  ignorantly  in  un- 
belief; and  that  in  me  first,  Jesus  Christ  might  show  forth 
all  long-suffering,  for  a  pattern  to  them  which  should  here- 
after believe  on  him  to  life  everlasting."  He  acted  under 
the  social  influence  exerted  at  the  time  by  his  nation, 
and  his  sins  were  sins  of  ignorance. 

Indeed  God  long  forebore  with  the  whole  Jewish  nation. 
The  Redeemer  himself  besought  them  ;  mercy  upon  mer- 
cy did  he  show  ;  miracle  after  miracle  did  he  perform  ;  ar- 
gument after  argument  did  he  urge  ;  year  after  year  did  he 
wait;  and  when  he  could  do  no  more,  he  wept.  His  apostles 
came  to  vary  and  renew  the  effort,  and  the  Spirit  descend- 
ed to  convince  them  of  sin,  of  righteousness  and  of  judg- 
ment. All  was  done  that  could  be  done.  They  were  not 
cast  off  until  every  expedient  had  failed.  Mercy  was  not 
regarded  ;  forbearance  was  exhausted ;  ignorance  ceased  to 
be  a  plea,  after  all  overtures  were  despised,  and  all  means 
were  tried  in  vain.  Thus  Jehovah  pities  the  ignorant. 
The  annual  atonement  was  no  anomaly.  It  was  a  mere 
figure  of  the  doctrine  of  the  cross — God's  evangelical  plan 
for  regenerating  and  saving  the  world.  A  mode  of  moral 
action  presented  for  our  own  imitation,  and  which  we  must 
carry  out  if  we  mean  to  be  ministers  of  grace  to  a  dying 
world.     The  age  in  which  we  live  demands  from  us  every 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  24 j 

thing  that  is  kind  and  benevolent  in  the  human  heart — 
particularly  in  that  heart  as  sanctified.  Were  such  feel- 
ings reciprocal,  catholics  and  protestants  might  soon  har- 
monize together,  and  harmonize  where  both  would  be  right. 
Love  to  God  and  love  to  man,  the  grand  moral  characteris- 
tics of  the  redeemed,  would  grace  them  alike  as  partakers 
of  a  common  salvation  ;  and  bring  light  and  truth  to  scatter 
the  ignorance  and  errors  that  now  involve  them  in  com- 
mon mistakes. 

Having;  thus  exhibited  at  lars:e  the  characteristics  of  the 
two  covenants,  and  having  shown  that  the  annual  atone- 
ment respected  those  of  the  first  covenant,  we  may  pro- 
ceed to  remark,  that  this  annual  atonement  was  a  type  of 
the  sacrificial  services  of  "the  High-Priest  of  our  profes- 
sion." He,  having  been  "put  to  deatji  in  the  flesh,"  en- 
tered by  his  own  blood  into  the  holiest  of  all,  or.  appeared 
in  heaven  for  us.  But  the  atonement  of  the  great  day  of 
expiation  was  made  for  the  errors,  or  sins  of  ignorance  of 
"  the  people  :"  i.  e.  for  the  whole  nation.  The  sacrifice 
of  Christ,  therefore,  must  be  of  a  like  general  character, 
else  the  type  is  destroyed.  The  question,  consequently 
will  be,  to  what  "  people" — to  what  community,  that  can 
be  politically  considered  as  a  whole,  did  his  sacrifice  ap- 
ply ?  The  answer  to  this  question  is  a  matter  of  primary 
importance.  So  theologians  have  considered  it  to  be,  and 
it  has  given  rise  to  protracted  controversy  among  them. 
Some  have  maintained  that  Christ  died  for  "  the  elect 
alone  ;"  and  that  they,  as  the  invisible  church,  constitute 
the  people,  the  whole  community,  whom  he  seeks  to  save. 
Others  have  averred  that  he  died  for  "  the  whole  world.'* 
How  shall  the  question  be  determined  ? 

The  atonement,  be  it  remembered,  is  made  for  transgres- 
sion of  law.  The  Jewish  people,  as  placed  under  the  first 
covenant,  were  all  under  law.  The  typical  character  of  this 
transaction  then  requires  that  those  for  whom  our  High- 
Triest  should  offer,  should  be  under  law  as  a  covenant  or 
Vol.  II.— 21 


242  LECTURES  ON 

dispensation ;  and  that  those  who  were  thus  circumstanced 
should  constitute  the  people — the  whole  for  whom  he  should 
die.  Who  were  they  ?  The  elect,  or  the  whole  human 
family  ?  Doubtless  the  whole  human  family  were  under 
law,  or  the  covenant  made  with  Adam,  seeing  that  they  all 
suffer  the  consequence  of  its  breach.  Of  course,  Christ 
died  for  the  whole  human  family.  The  elect,  as  such, 
never  were  under  law,  considered  as  a  covenant,  or  dispen- 
sation, except  the  jews,  to  whom  no  one  confines  either 
the  term  elect  or  the  death  of  Christ.  The  elect  were  un- 
der law,  only  as  they  formed  a  part  of  the  human  family, 
and  can  come  in  to  share  the  benefits  of  an  atonement 
made  in  view  of  law  only  in  that  connexion.  The  "one 
offence"  involved  all  men  in  condemnation,  and  the  one 
righteousness  brought  a  justification  unto  life  upon  all  men. 
Our  sacrifice  is  "the  lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
bin  of  the  world."  Either  law  has  nothing  to  do  with 
this  subject — and  yet  Christ  was  made  under  the  law — or 
there  is  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  Christ  died  for 

ALL  MEN. 

The  same  conclusion  may  be  reached  by  considering  the 
peculiar  phrase  employed  by  the  apostle,  and  which  is  now 
under  consideration.  Surely  the  whole  world,  as  under  law 
which  had  been  broken,  and  living  under  the  action  of  so- 
cial principle,  and  knowing  Jehovah's  purposes  of  mercy 
only  as  they  were  hidden  in  a  mystery,  were  as  much  guil- 
ty of  sins  of  ignorance,  as  the  jews  who  were  so  placed 
typically.  In  fact  the  jews  were  put  under  these  circum- 
stances figuratively,  because  the  whole  world  was  under 
them  really. 

The  mystery  was  concealed  not  merely  from  the  Israelitist 
fathers,  but  from  "the  sons  of  men."  It  "had  been  hid 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world  in  God,  who  made  all  things 
by  Jesus  Christ."  And  when  it  is  made  known,  gentiles 
have  an  equal  interest  in  it  with  the  jews — are  fellow-heirs, 
and  of  the  same  body  ;"  and  to  themselves  the  whole  pur- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  243 

pose  of  mercy  is  revealed.     They,  to  whom  knowledge  is 
imparted,  must  have  been  previously  in  a  state  of  ignorance. 
Under  the  law,  as  broken  by  the  great  progenitor  of  all, 
there  was  no  relief  for  any  ;  yet  every  one  was  by  necessi- 
ty personally  responsible  to  God.     In  such  a  condition, 
what  could  any  one  do? — either  gentile  or  jew.     Take 
away  the  first  promise,  the  sacrificial  institution,  the  cheru- 
bic symbol,  in  which  salvation  was  presented  in  a  parable, 
and  the  world  is  reduced  to  the  most  profound  ignorance. 
You  have  heard  of  the  superstition  of  the  gentiles,  and  of 
the  wisdom  of  their  philosophers ;  but  while,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  annual  atonement  among  the  jews  could  not  make 
them  perfect  as  pertaining  to  the  conscience,  so  on  the  other, 
'•'in  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not 
God."     Boastful  as  the  learned  and  philosophic  have  been, 
long  and  loudly  as  their  objections  to  Christianity  have  been 
proclaimed,  have  they  ever  solved  the  problem  of  "  moral 
evil?  Look  at  the  world  as  it  is  now,  when  emero;in£  from 
the  deadly  influence  of  false  politics  and  false  morals,  for 
which  infallibility  has  been  pleaded.  Who  can  satisfactorily 
answer  the  many  questions,  which  are  at  this  time  agitating 
the  community  ?     Who  anticipates  any  good  from  any  con- 
troversy at  present  in  progress  ?  or  is  cheered  by  the  intel- 
ligence   communicated    by   our   ecclesiastical    partizans? 
What  humble  inquirer  feels  the  dogmas  of  any  party,  com- 
ing home  to  his  conscience  in  "demonstration  of  the  Spi- 
rit and  with  power?"     Drilled  bands,  full  of  prejudice  and 
conceit,  exchange  their  pseans;  social  combinations  mul- 
tiplied almost  to  infinity,  have  tried  every  expedient ;  the 
Eternal  has  been  invoked  from  his  throne — what  have  not 
sectarian  chieftains  tried  ?  and  yet  men's  hearts  are  failing 
them  for  fear.     Preaching  the  terrors  of  the  law  to  beings 
who  are  "  not  under  law,"  the  result  shows  what  the  whole 
world,  as  guilty  before  God,  shows ;  i.  e.  until  the  gospel  ia 
made  known,  all  are  in  ignorance. — When  the  Son  of  man 
cometh,  shall  lie  find  faith  on  the  earth? 


244  LECTURES  ON 

Under  the  social  principle,  as  such,  not  only  may  the 
jew  say — "The  fathers  have  eaten  a  sour  grape,  and  the 
children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge  ;"  but  all  the  world  mourns 
over  "  the  infirmities  of  the  flesh,"  superinduced  by  Adam's 
sin.  Can  any  one  of  us  be  conscious  of  Adam's  sin  ? — I 
mean  of  the  thing  itself.  We  may  feel  its  effects,  we 
may  have  full  proof  that  the  crime  has  been  committed, 
but  not  one  can  be  conscious  of  having:  committed  it.  With 
none  of  us  is  it  our  own  ;  nor  can  it  so  rest  upon  the  con- 
science of  any.  In  this  view  again,  the  whole  world  is  in 
ignorance,  and  labouring,  by  the  action  of  the  social  prin- 
ciple, under  the  effects  of  "one  offence,"  committed  by 
"one  man."  If  then  there  was  a  manifest  propriety  in 
meeting  such  a  case  as  typically  presented  among  the  jews, 
was  there  not  an  equal  propriety  in  meeting  it,  as  it  really 
existed  in  the  whole  world  ? 

If  the  case  was  not  met  by  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  in  view 
of  the  world,  you  perceive  that  it  could  not  be  jnet  even 
among  the  jews :  for,  among  the  jews,  the  whole  affair  was 
typical.     Take  the  world  out  of  these  sacrificial  relations, 
and  there  is  nothing  for  the  type  to  represent ;  because  an 
essential  part  of  the  type  is,  that  the  jews  were  under  law. 
But  if  Adam,  as  the  head  of  the  human  family  under  law, 
be  thrown  out  of  consideration,  the  type  has  no  correspon- 
dent, for  no  one  else  was  under  law.     Nor  only  so :  but  if 
Christ's  sacrifice  did  not  respect  "sins  of  ignorance,"  the 
type  is  again  destroyed  ;  because  for  such  sins  the  annual 
atonement  was  made.     Nay  more.     The  annual  atonement 
"  could  not  make  him  that  did  the  service  perfect,  as  per- 
taining to  the  conscience ;  or  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats 
could  not  take  away  these  sins  of  ignorance ;  so  that  for 
those  very  sins  of  ignoronce,  the  jew  himself  was  referred 
to  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.     If  then  Christ's  sacrifice  takes 
away  sins  of  ignorance,  the  whole  world,  as  involved  in 
such  guilt,  is  interested  in  his  death  and  intercession. 

The  fact,  however,  is  broadly  asserted  in  both  views-r-  * 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  245 

"The  redemption  of,  the  transgressions,  that  were  under 
the  first  covenant,"  is  directly  referred  to  the  "  death"  of 
the  "  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant."*  The  principle  of 
this  political  operation  is  declared  to  be  divine  forbearance  : 
— Christ  Jesus  hath  been  "  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation 
through  faith  in  his  blood  to  declare  his  righteousness  for 
the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past,  through  the  forbearance 
of  God."  And  that  forbearance,  Paul  tells  the  Athenians, 
was  freelyextended  to  all.  "We  are  all  his  offspring,"  he 
remarked,  "  as  certain  also  of  your*own  poets  have  said." 
"  Forasmuch  then  as  we  are  the  offspring  of  God,  we  ought 
not  to  think  that  the  Godhead  is  like  unto  gold,  or  silver, 
or  stone,  graven  by  art  and  man's  device.  And  the  times 
of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at ;  but  now  commandeth 
all  men  every  where  to  repent,  because  he  has  appointed 
a  day  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the  world  by  that  man 
whom  he  hath  ordained  ;  whereof  he  hath  given  assurance 
to  all  men,  in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead."  The 
cases  are  perfectly  analogous  ;  are  parallel  operations  under 
the  same  general  political  measure  ;  and  exemplify  divine 
forbearance,  running  down  through  "times  of  ignorance." 
and  on  to  times  of  knowledge,  when  the  mystery  should  be 
revealed,  in  consideration  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ; 
and  when  he  should  be  made  perfect  through  suffering.  In 
fact  they  are  finally  amalgamated — "out  of  twain,  one 
new  man"  created  in  knowledge,  righteousness  and  true 
holiness  "is  made." 

And  why  should  it  not  be  so  ?  Could  the  ignorance  of 
the  gentiles  not  receive  indulgence  as  well  as  the  ignorance 
of  the  jews  ?  Was  it  inconsistent  that  the  intercessory  prayer 
should  rise  for  them — "  Father  forgive  them  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do  ?"  Should  they  not  obtain  mercy,  if  they 
had  committed  sin  "  ignorantly  in  unbelief?"  Would  they 
not  have  acted  differently,  had  they  known  better  ?  Is  Je- 
hovah "  the  God  of  the  jews  only  ?  is  he  not  the  God  of 

*  Heb.  ix.  9. 
21* 


246  LECTURES  ON 

the  gentiles  also?"  Did  they  act  worse  than  the  jews? 
Did  they  "  crucify  the  Lord  of  glory  ?"  Would  not  Tyre 
and  Sidon  have  repented  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  had  they 
beheld  the  mighty  works  which  were  done  in  Chorazin  and 
Bethsaida  ?  Shall  it  not  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  in 
the  day  of  judgment  than  for  Capernaum?  Shall  not  the 
uncircumcision  judge  the  circumcision  ?  Shall  not  the 
greek,  who  has  done  good,  have  eternal  life,  as  well  as  the 
jew  who  has  done  good?  Whither,  0  whithe*r,  have  we 
been  led  in  cur  sectarian  folly  ? 

Here  then  is  a  whole,  made  up  of  two  parts.  The  same 
things  are  asserted  of  both  ;  and  must — must  they  not? — 
be  true  of  the  whole.  Therefore,  Christ  died  for  all  men, 
or  he  died  for  none.  He  has  mercy  on  all,  as  encompassed 
by  ''the  infirmities'. of- the  flesh;"  or  "the  infirmities  of 
the  flesh"  arc  no  reason  why  he  should  die,  and  why  he 
should  have  mercy  on  any.  In  his  gospel  he  calls  upon 
all  men,  every  where,  to  repent,  or  be  calls  upon  none. — 
All — all — are  thrown  on  their  personal  responsibility,  and 
their  final  destiny  shall  be  the  just  award  of  a  righteous 
government  to  beings  thus  si'uated.  l^  any  shall, be  lost, 
it  is  because  they  have  not  met  that  responsibility. 

We  have  at  length  leached  the  point,  in  view  of  which 
the  whole  argument  has  been  elaborated.  If  you  have  care- 
fully attended  to  that  argument,  you  can  scarcely  avoid  go- 
ins  directly  to  the  conclusions,  in  view  of  the  relations  of 
children,  which  we  must  now  proceed  to  contemplate.  And 
1.  Children  were  evidently  included  among  the  people  for 
whom  the  annual  atonement  was  made.  If  that  atonement 
Was  typical  of  Christ's  sacrifice,  then  the  sacrifice  of  Christ 
Was  offered  for  a  people — some  political  whole — in  which, 
according  to  the  plain  meaning  of  terms,  children  are  ne- 
cessarily included.  Can  there  be  a  nation— a  people — a 
political  community — without  children  ?  Assuredly  not. 
Either  therefore  the  political  principle  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  annual  atonement,  and  with  the  mediatorial  right- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  247 

eousness  of  the  Son  of  GoJ,  or  children  were  included  un- 
der this  political  operation.  But  you  know  that  the  Jewish 
nation,  as  such,  were  God's  people;  and  that  he  himself 
was  their  king.  According  to  the  old  prophets,  when  God 
should  elect  the  gentiles,  he  would  call  in  a  people;  or, 
those  called  would  be  as  the  apostle  Peter  expresses  the 
divine  proceedings,  when  addressing  the  "elect  according 
to  the  fore-knowledge  of  Gjd" — "  Ye  are  .a  chosen  genera- 
tion, a  royal  priesthood,  an  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  peo- 
ple— which  in  time  past  were  not  a  people,  but  are  now 
the  people  of  God."  The  terms  thus  employed,  cannot  be 
explained,  if  children  shall  be  shut  out  from  the  ecclesias- 
tical privileges  to  which  allusion  is  made.  To  make  full 
proof  of  tiiis  argument,  let  us  review  the  history  of  God's 
dispensations,  which,  as  the  Governor  of  the  world,  he  haj 
based  on  the  social  principle. 

I  have,  already  shown  to  you  that  the  paradisiacal  consti- 
tution was  a  political  institute.     Ey  denying,  or  overlook- 
ing this  important  consideration,  theologians  have  destroy- 
ed   all  just  views    of  personal   responsibility;    and   have 
merged  cur  personal  obligations  in  the  divine  sovereignty. 
Ail  men,  they  say,  are  thereby  brought  into  temporal,  spi- 
ritual, and  eternal  death  ;  and  of  course,  they  readily  see, 
that  children  may  perish.     Our  baptist  brethren,  who  advo- 
cate this  view  of  the  original  covenant,  when  they  come  to 
consider  the  provisions  of  the   mediatorial  covenant,  ex- 
clude children,  because  they  overlook  or  disregard  the  po- 
litical character  of  both  covenants.     Here  is  the  origin  of 
their  difficulty.     But  let  them  reason  as  they  may,  the  con- 
sequences of  Adam's  sin  come  down  upon  all — children 
suffer  and  die.     When  Christ  appears,  he  is  proclaimed  to 
be  the  second  Adam.     His  righteousness,  from  the  nature 
of  the  case,  must  afford  its  application  to  all — children  as 
well  as  adults,  else  there  would  be  no  resemblance  ;  Adam 
would  be  no  figure  of  Christ.     If  the  consequences  of 
Adam's  sin  were  death  temporal,  spiritual  and  eternal  to 


248  LECTURES  ON 

all — children  not  excepted ;  then  the  consequences  of 
Christ's  righteousness  must  be  life  temporal,  spiritual  and 
eternal  to  all — children  not  excepted.  If  the  conse- 
quences of  Adam's  sin  were  temporal  death,  with  all  the 
various  temporal  ills  we  suffer,  to  all — children  not  except- 
ed ;  then  the  consequences  of  Christ's  righteousness  must 
be  deliverance  from  that  death,  and  all  the  blessings  which 
can  be  afforded  in  this  life,  for  all — children  not  except- 
ed. Hence  Paul  asserts,  that  as  by  one  man's  sin  all  men 
were  brought  into  condemnation,  so  by  one  man's  righte- 
ousness all  men  were  brought  into  justification  of  life.  As 
in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive.  As 
by  man  came  death,  by  man  also  came  the  resurrection 
from  the  dead.  Viewed  as  parallel  political  operations,  the 
interest  of  children  in  these  two  covenants  is  thus  demon- 
strated. Every  one  may  understand  such  an  argument, 
who  can  understand  how  children  are  identified  with  pa- 
rents in  the  common  concerns  of  life ;  how  their  interests 
in  the  political  charter  of  their  country  are  recognised  ;  and 
how  property  descends  from  parent  to  child. 

Let  us  suppose  that  Adam  had  not  eaten  the  forbidden  fruit 
— what  then  ?  None  would  have  been  subject  to  death,  nor 
would  have  known  good  and  evil.  Children  consequently 
would  not  have  suffered  as  they  do  now.  And  why  ? 
Because  they  would  have  been  covered  by  the  official 
righteousness  of  Adam  their  federal  head ;  and  would  have 
enjoyed  all  the  facilities  which  the  covenant,  as  fulfilled, 
could  have  afforded  to  them,  in  view  of  their  personal  re- 
sponsibility. When  therefore  Christ  fulfils  the  law,  his 
righteousness  covers  all,  and  children  are  entitled  to  all 
the  remedial  benefits  it  affords,  as  they  are  advancing  un- 
der a  system  of  personal  responsibility  to  meet  the  awards 
of  the  last  day ;  and  that  because  he  fulfils  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  law.  Thus  again  the  case  before  us  is  neces- 
sarily provided  for,  and  in  the  most  ample  manner. 

The  Jewish  and  the  christian  dispensations,  which  have 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  249 

been  brought  in  are  emblematical,  the  one  of  law,  and  the 
other  of  gospel ;  and  are  in  like  manner  political  in  their 
character.  They  are  therefore  based  on  social  principle, 
and  consecrate  nations  as  their  agents.  The  Jewish  na- 
tion was  brought  in  under  law — many  nations  are  brought 
in  under  gospel.  Children  must  necessarily  be  included 
in  this  political  operation;  for  1.  The  Jewish  institute,  as 
symbolic  of  law,  referred  to  law  which  had  been  violated 
by  Adam,  and  which  has  entailed  the  consequences  of  sin 
upon  children  as  well  as  upon  adults  ;  and  the  christian  in- 
stitute, as  symbolic  of  gospel,  refers  to  Christ's  righteous- 
ness, which  brings  a  justification  unto  life  upon  all — 
Children  as  well  as  adults.  And  2,  as  under  both,  na- 
tions are  made  the  ministerial  agents,  and  as  children  are 
parts  of  nations,  to  leave  those  out  is  to  destroy  the  official 
exhibition.  Accordingly  the  facts,  in  the  history  of  both 
dispensations,  sustain  the  general  doctrine. 

The  Jewish  dispensation  did,  in  the  most  unequivocal 
manner,  include  children.  They  "were  shut  up"  with 
their  parents  under  "the  ministration  of  death  and  con- 
demnation, "unto  the  faith  which  should  afterwards  be  re- 
vealed ;"  or  were  put  under  the  law  as  "  a  schoolmaster  to 
bring  them  to  Christ."  Hence,  you  remember,  they  were 
circumcised ;  and  the  circumstance,  whether  they  under- 
stood the  nature  of  that  ordinance  or  not  did  not  vitiate  the 
ceremonies  ;  even  as  in  every  political  community  children 
are  entitled  to  its  privileges,  and  are  not  deprived  of  them 
in  consequence  of  not  understanding  their  import.  Doubt- 
less under  such  an  institute  as  Moses  established,  children 
would  do  many  things  that  would  be  a  violation  of  the  rigid 
statutes  which  he  enacted.  But  such  acts  would  be  sins  of 
ignorance, and  this  great  annual  atonement  would  cover  them. 
Now  would  it  not  be  a  strange  inconsistency,  if,  after 
children  had  been  shut  up  under  a  ministration  which  was 
professedly  intended  to  lead  to  Christ,  they  should  have  no 
interest  in  Christ  and  his  institutions  when  he  should  come  ? 


250  LECTURES  ON 

Yet  how  much  difficulty  has  been  felt!  Our  baptist  breth- 
ren cast  off  children  as  having  no  place  in  the  church  ;  and 
many  others  carry  out  their  doctrine  of  "personal  election" 
among  infants.  What  are  the  facto  in  the  case  ?  Christ 
said  — "  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me."  And  will 
any  of  you  keep  them  back,  or  condemn  those  who  would 
bring  them  ? — But  why  should  they  come?  The  Redeem- 
er himself  assigns  the  reason,  and  observes — "For  of  such 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  The  present  dispensation  i3 
here  called  a  kingdom  : — can  there  be  a  kingdom  without 
children?  Where  there  is  a  kingdom,  all  its  subjects  are 
under  the  action  of  its  constitutional  principles  ;  so  that  if 
children  are  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  they  are  necessa- 
rily under  the  action  of  its  constitutional  principles.  Where 
there  is  a  kingdom/there  is  also  a  king,  and  he  is  Lord  over 
all  that  belong  to  that  kingdom;  so  that  if  children  belong 
to  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  Christ  is  their  Lord  and  Saviour. 
Again.  On  the  day  of  Pentecost,  when  the  multitude 
addressed  Peter  and  the  rest  of  the  apostles  with  so  much 
feeling,  and  said — "Men  and  brethren  what  shall  we  do  ?" 
Peter  replied — "Repent  and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins;  and 
ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  For  the  pro- 
mise is  to  yon  and  your  children,  and  to  all  that  are  afar 
off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call."  The 
promise,  to  which  the  apostle  alluded,  was  that  of  the  "new 
covenant" — or  the  charter  of  their  ecclesiastical  state  un- 
der the  new  dispensation.  This  promise,  and  of  course 
"the  covenant,"  or  dispensation,  the  apostle  appropriates 
to  them  and  their  children;  and,  on  the  ground  of  its  ex- 
tensive application,  exhorts  them  to  repent  and  be  baptiz- 
ed. In  like  manner,  when  the  Philippian  jailor  inquired 
of  Paul  and  Silas  what  he  should  do  to  be  saved  ?  they 
replied — "  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt 
be  saved,  and  thy  house"* — Can  any  one  demand  any 
*  Oikos,  or  family. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  251 

farther  statute,  in  reference  to  the  church-membership  of 
children  ?  and  that  when  he  lays  these  explicit  declarations 
alongside  of  the  political  principles  which  have  just  been 
stated  ? 

But  once  more.  When  a  particular  case  was  referred 
by  the  church  of  Corinth  to  the  apostle  Paul  on  the  sub- 
ject of  divorce,  he  replied — "  The  unbelieving  husband 
is  sanctified  by  the  believing  wife,  and  the  unbelieving 
wife  is  sanctified  by  the  believing  husband:  else  were  your 
children  unclean;  but  now  are  they  holy."  Did  the  un- 
believing husband,  or  wife,  by  being  sanctified,  become 
really  holy  ?  Surely  not.  The  apostle  uses  the  term  of- 
ficially, in  order  to  state  the  constitutional  principle  on 
which  children  came  into  the  new  testament  church,  or 
the  company  of  God's  saints.  If  it  were  not  as  I  have 
described  to  you,  says  the  apostle,  your  children  would  be 
among  the  unclean — the  unsanctified  heathen.*  Now 
they  are  not  unclean,  but  holy — saints — belonging  to  God's 
sanctified  ones.  In  like  manner,  this  same  apostle,  describ- 
ing the  character  of  those  who  might  be  ordained  as  elders, 
mentions  that  they  should  have  "faithful  children."  Faith- 
ful is  another  term  like  "  saint,"  and  belongs  to  members  of 
the  church :  and  if  children  can  be  described  as  not  un- 
clean— as  holy,  or  as  saints — and  as  faithful,  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  most  fastidious  might  be  fully  satisfied. 

As  not  unclean,  and  as  holy,  under  the  former  dispensa- 
tion, children  were  circumcised,  or  had  the  seal  of  their 
ecclesiastical  state  under  the  Jewish  church.  Why  should 
they  not  now  have  the  seal  of  their  ecclesiastical  state  un- 
der the  new  testament  church  ?  Will  you  reply  that  cir- 
cumcision was  the  seal  of  their  national  relations  under  the 
Sinaic  covenant?  Suppose  I  grant  this:  then  it  will  fol- 
low, that  children  are  identified  with  their  parents  in  a  po- 
litical organization  ;  which  is  one  of  the  matters  I  insist  on. 
But  I  must  go  farther  and  remind  you,  that  circumcision 

*  Acts  x.  28. 


252  LECTURES  ON 

was  appended  to  the  Abrahamic  covenan-t;  and  as  such 
was  "  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  faith."  Any  one,  who 
is  acquainted  with  the  bible,  knows  that  the  new  testament 
church  is  a  society  under  the  Abrahamic  covenant ;  and 
consequently  under  that  covenant  children  are,  and  must 
be,  members  of  that  society.  And  farther,  that  man  knows 
that  the  distinguishing  attribute  of  this  new  society  is  "the 
righteousness  of  faith."  But  children  had  been  entitled  to 
the  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  faith  ;  and  that  not  only  by 
the  Sinaic  ritual,  but  by  the  covenant  with  Abraham,  whose 
children  we  are.  Where  is  the  statute  by  which  they  are 
deprived  of  that  seal,  seeing  that  the  Abrahamic  covenant 
is  still  in  force  ?  Let  the  opponent  to  infant  baptism  show 
his  authority  ;  or,  taking  the  whole  argument  together,  an- 
swer if  he  can.  . 

Speaking  on  the  subject  of  a  statute  for  infant  baptism, 
it  may  not  be  amiss  to  observe,  that  the  Redeemer  calls 
upon  parents  to  educate  their  children  in  his  laws.     Ac- 
cording to  the  doctrine  I  am  canvassing,  he  would  then  re- 
quire them  to  obey  the  laws  of  a  kingdom,  which  does  not 
recognise  them  as  subjects.     The  old  testament  was  a  rule 
to  the  Jewish  church,  and  not  to  the  gentile  nations:  the 
gentiles,  Paul  declares,  had  not  the  law,  but  were  a  law 
unto  themselves.     Now  when  Christ  has  given  us  the  gos- 
pel, understanding  thereby  the  new  dispensation,  and  has 
called   and   consecrated   many  nations   as  his   church, 
those,  whom   we  call  the   heathen,  are  not  under  it,  and 
shall  not  be  judged  by  it.     They  stand  to  the  new  testa- 
ment church  in  a  relation  similar  to  that  in  which  the  old 
gentiles  stood  to  the  old  testament  church.     The  law,  of 
which  I  am  speaking,  and  which  requires  parents  to  bring 
up  their  children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord,  is   a  law  of  the  new  dispensation,  as   such.     Of 
course  children  are  members  of  this  dispensation,  because 
they  are  under  its  own  peculiar  laws.     Those,  who  are  not 
members  of  this  dispensation  and  are  not  subject  to  its  re- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  253 

gulations,  are  strangers  to  the  covenant  of  promise — 
aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel.  And  none  of 
these  terms  are  applied  to  the  children  of  believers.  On 
the  contrary,  they  are  called  saints  and  faithful.  It 
will  not  do  to  reply  that  parents  are  by  nature  required  to 
bring  up  their  children  in  the  fear  of  God ;  because  the 
statute  to  which  I  refer  belongs  to  the  bible,  which  is  the 
rule  to  the  church  as  such,  and  the  subjects  exhibited  are 
those  which  belong  to  the  dispensation.*  How  then  can 
children  be  under  the  municipal  regulations  of  a  commu- 
nity, of  which  they  are  not  members. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  inquire  how  this  idea,  which 
shuts  children  out  of  the  christian  community,  could  ever 
have  been  entertained  ?  There  must  be  some  reason  for  it. 
The  argument  which   is   generally  offered  in  its  defence, 
cannot  sustain  it.     That  argument  is  so  palpable  a  breach 
of  general  principles,  that  it  always  appears  to  me  like  a 
conclusion   whose  premises  are  not  known.     But  I  appre- 
hend that  the  premises  may  be  ascertained,  though  they 
lie  far  back  ;  and  that  they  will  be  found  the  fruitful  source 
of  many  errors.     To  explain.     In  the  second  century  the 
christian  community,  in  imitation  of  pagan  "associations, 
was  divided  into  two  parts,  which  have  been  called  church 
and  congregation.    For  this  distinction  there  is  no  warrant 
in  the  word  of  God.     But  when  it  was  made,  the  question 
would  of  course  arise — who  are  the  members  of  the  church? 
The  ground  on  which  the  Saviour  constructed  his  dispensa- 
tion, or  the  principle  of  organization  which  brought  in  many 
nations,  and  separated  them  as  a  peculiar  people,  was 
abandoned  ;  something  purely  spiritual  was  substituted  for 
that  which  was  political ;  and  the  tie,  which  united  children 
with  the  christian  community  as  the  church,  was  broken. 
The  scriptural  doctrine  of  election  was  perverted,  and  ' 
instead  of  being  a  great  political  transaction  of  the  Gover- 

*  See  my  Essay  on  Creeds  chap.  xi. 
Vol.  II.— 22 


•254  LECTURES  ON 

nor  of  the  world  applicable  to  the  many  nations,  it  was 
frittered  down  into  the  frigid  dogma  taught  by  Augustin, 
and  afterwards  by  Calvin.  And  when  the  doctrines  of 
election,  of  definite  atonement,  of  particular  redemption, 
&c.  came  in,  I  see  not  why  the  antipajdobaptist  might  not 
bring  in  his  heartless  speculation,  and  unfeelingly  drive 
children  from  the  mercy-seat.  In  truth  the  ideas  to  which 
I  have  alluded,  have  made  the  subject  of  infant  salvation 
a  difficult  problem  among  theological  dogmatists  every 
where.  Abandon  the  distinction  between  church  and 
con°re°-atioii,  come  back  to  the  broad  views  of  the  new 
dispensation  afforded  in  the  scriptures,  and  reason  on  the 
political  principles  necessarily  belonging  to  "a  peculiar 
people,"  composed  of  many  nations  and  constituting 
the  church,  and  infant  baptism  will  be  restored  in  all  its 
plainness  and  simplicity  ;  while  those  forbidding  peculiari- 
ties, called  calvinistic,  and  which,  in  the  viejy  of  so 
many,  border  so  close  on  fatalism,  will  immediately  dis- 
appear. 

But  I  have  followed  this  matter  farther  than  I  intend- 
ed.— To  return.  Children  were  members  of  the  Jewish 
church  ;  the  annual  atonement  was  made  for  the  people  ; 
therefore  it  wras  made  for  children,  inasmuch  as  there  can- 
not be  a  people  or  nation  without  children.  That  atone- 
ment was  typical  of  Christ's  sacrifice  ;  his  sacrifice  must 
have  been  made  for  a  people,  and  consequently  children 
were  included  in  his  sacrifice.  He  was  the  Lamb  of  God 
that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world  ;  consequently  the 
children  of  the  whole  world  are  interested  in  the  right- 
eousness he  fulfilled.  All  men  are  brought  thereby  into 
a  justification  of  life ;  so  that  children  are  interested  in 
this  justification  of  life,  and  shall  be  raised  from  the  dead 
to  see  God  as  He  is.  After  having  pressed  our  argument 
thus  far,  and  ascertained  the  political  relations  of  children 
under  the  government,  or  in  the  kingdom  of  Prince  Mes- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  255 

siah,  it  only  remains  that  we  follow  out  the  subject  in 
view  of  their  personal  responsibilities.     Then, 

2.  I  inquire,  may  not  children — do  they  not — sin  against 
Christ?  and  if  thev  do  so  sin,  what  must  the  issue  with 
regard  to  them  be?  Here  is  the  only  connexion  where 
any  difficulty  can  possibly  remain.  Covered  under  the 
mediatorial  mantle,  and  brought  into  £C  a  justification  of 
life"  by  the  Mediator's  righteousness,  their  final  salvation 
can  be  jeoparded  in  no  other  way  than  hy  their  personal 
delinquencies.  Accordingly  theologians  have  not  failed 
to  advance  certain  most  fearful  and  heart-breaking  senti- 
ments concerning  the  personal  character  of  children.  A 
child,  they  say,  cannot  believe,  and  is  therefore  destitute 
of  evangelic  virtue ;  and  farther,  they  say,  it  actually 
sins  as  soon  as  it  is  born,  and  thereby  deserves  death 
under  God's  righteous  government : — in  support  of  which 
harsh  and  aguish  notions,  the  text  will  be  quoted — "  The 
wicked  are  estranged  from  the  womb,  they  go  astray  as 
soon  as  they  are  born,  speaking  lies."* 

Now,  while  on  the  one  hand,  the  psalmist,  in  the  text 
quoted,  is  speaking  of  the  development  of  youthful  char- 
acter in  the  midst  of  a  corrupted  community,  and  under 
the  force  of  parental  vices ;  death,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
have  seen,  is  the  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  is  not  origi- 
nally connected  with  personal  responsibility,  and  cannot 
be  incurred  by,  but  is  executed  irrespective  of,  infantile 
errors.  These  defences  of  the  theological  dogmas  in  ques- 
tion, having  been  thus  easily  removed,  the  inability  of  the 
young  to  believe  yet  remains  in  our  way.  What  does  an 
adult  believe  ?  Just  what  may  be  represented  to  him  as 
true,  and  as  far  as  his  ability  to  apprehend  can  embrace 
what  is  represented.  And  cannot  children  do  the  same 
thing  ?  They  may  not  be  able  to  read  and  analyze  a  print- 
ed book — they  may  not  know  how  to  estimate  lofty  strains 
of  eloquence,  nor  be  competent  to  follow  a  long  and  ab- 

*Psalms  58,  3. 


256  LECTURES  ON 

struse  argument,  proceeding  from  the  pulpit — they  may 
not  be  intellectual  enough  to  measure  the  manifestation 
which  God  has  made  of  himself  in  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  nor  understand  his  "witness"  always  speaking  in 
goodly  tones  in  his  providence.  All  this  adults  may  be 
able  to  manage,  while  their  children  cannot.  But  God 
has  provided  for  children  their  own  ministers  of  grace, 
around  the  family  fireside,  in  the  parlour,  in  the  chamber. 
And  can  they  not,  do  they  not,  believe  their  parents,  when 
speaking  of  Christ — his  love  and  his  sorrows?  nay,  do  they 
not  believe  more  implicitly  than  adults  ?  The  Redeemer 
seemed  to  recognise  the  pure  moral  character  of  children, 
when  he  said  to  his  disciples — "Except  ye  be  converted, 
and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  Nor  only  so;  but  he  warned  his 
disciples  not  to  "  offend  one  of  those  little  ones  which 
believed  in"  him ;  thereby,  in  explicit  terms,  predicating 
faith  of  their  mental  exercises.  But  we  must  treat  the 
subject  more  at  large. 

That  children  do  many  things  which,  abstractedly 
speaking,  are  wrong,  and  which,  left  to  an  operation  pure- 
ly legal,  would  work  condemnation,  or  bring  suffering  until 
relief  is  obtained,  no  one  can  deny.  The  moral  reasoner 
gains  nothing,  either  for  the  cause  of  truth  and  benevo- 
lence, or  for  that  of  biblical  exegesis  and  parental  comfort, 
by  denying  the  fact.  Thisbeing  admitted,  it  will  be  said 
— "Sin  is  transgression  of  law;"  and  thus  children,  by 
their  own  actual  transgressions,  incur  the  penalty  of  the  law. 
What  relief  then  has  the  parental  heart  ?  None,  but  in 
the  sovereignty  of  God,  it  may  be  answered.  And  as  that 
proceeds  on  a  principle  of  election,  we  may  be  certain 
that  some  will  be  saved — it  may  be  that  a  great  many  will 
be  saved  ;  but  whether  or  not — or  who — or  how  many — 
no  one  can  tell.  How  such  remarks  try  the  soul!  The 
heart  bleeds,  the  eyes  grow  dim,  the  spirit  droops,  every 
nerve  quivers,  under  such  preaching.     By  what  authority 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  257 

do  ministers  of  the  gospel  thus  torture  the  spirits  of  be- 
lievers, whose  children  God  promised  to  take  into  cove- 
nant with  himself?  or  the  feelings  of  any,  of  any  nation,, 
to  whom  they  are  sent  to  preach  the  gospel  ?  By  what 
right  do  they  thus  limit  the  action  of  the  first  promise 
under  which  the  world  was  called  to  live  in  hope  ?  or  the 
"riches  of  grace"  and  "riches  of  glory,"  which  the  new 
covenant  has  spread  out  over  christian  communities  ?  The 
Master  never  gave  them  such  a  commission  :  and  no  ordi- 
nation vows  they  ever  assumed  can  justify  such  official 
severities. 

It  appears  to  me  that  theologians  uniformly  suppose 
that  temporal  death  is  the  result  of  personal  sin.  On  no 
other  supposition  can  their  argument  rest.  Then,  as  in- 
infants  die,  it  will  follow  that  they  have  personally  sinned. 
But  this  is  not  the  scriptural  view  of  death,  as  has  been 
abundantly  proved.  Death  is  the  consequence  of  Adam's 
sin.  "In  Adam  all  die."  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into 
the  world,  and  death  by  sin."  "  By  one  man's  offence 
death  reigned  by  one."  "It  is  appointed  unto  man  once 
to  die."  The  political  operation — for  such  it  is — is  the 
great  proof  of  the  scriptural  doctrine  that  sin  will  brine- 
misery: — proof  inscribed  on  nature,  to  which  even  they 
must  yield  who  so  proudly  affect  to  contemn  the  bible. 
Controvertists  have,  I  conceive,  forgotten  that  "we  are 
not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace;"  that  law  was  put 
under  mediatorial  restrictions  when  the  first  promise  was 
given ;  and  that  the  bible  unfolds  the  philosophy  of  this 
new  and  evangelic  policy.  The  law.  it  is  true,  was  again 
introduced — it  entered  privily,  among  the  jews — they  sin- 
ned like  Adam — they  therefore  mourned  under  a  "  minis- 
tration of  death"  and  "  condemnation  :"  but  this  has  long 
since  decayed  and  vanished  away.  Has  the  law  come  in 
a  third  time  ?  Do  we  sin  like  Adam  ?  Are  we  under  a 
"  ministration  of  death  and  condemnation  ?"  Within  this 
periphery,  it  appears  to  me,  that  theologians  are  alwavs 
22* 


258  LECTURES  ON 

circulating  their  dogmas ;  and  therefore  they  reach  con- 
clusions which  they  cannot  sustain  to  the  common  sense 
of  mankind,  and  by  which  they  can  do  nothing  but  torture 
the  parental  heart.  It  is  doubtless  true  that — "Sin  is 
transgression  of  law  ;"  but  it  is  equally  true  that,  "  sin  is 
not  imputed  where  there  is  iso  law."  And  law  was  not 
"  from  Adam  to  Moses,"  during  which  period  mankind 
did  not  sin  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression." 
Law  is  not  now,  and  has  not  been  since  the  old  covenant 
vanished  away  ;  so  that  none  now  "  sin  after  the  similitude 
of  Adam's  transgression" — neither  adults  nor  infants.  Our 
infants  are  not  under  "  the  ministration  of  death." 

It  is  not  a  little  strange,  that  mere  abstract  law  should  be 
judicially  applied  to  the  case  of  infants.  For  even  in  po- 
litical science  with  which  you  are  all  familiar — and  you 
must  remember  that  civil  government  is  an  ordinance  of 
God,  and  the  human  being  is  its  subject — in  political  science 
abstract  law  cannot  be  carried  out.  Law  must  be  admi- 
nistered on  mediatorial  principles,  and  with  a  view  to  re- 
formation. Or,  in  so  far  as  it  is  not,  our  political  rulers 
commit  mistakes,  from  whose  consequences  physical  pow- 
er cannot  extricate  them.  Tire  Redeemer  is  a  "  Priest  on 
his  throne,"  governing  the  world  by  love  ;  and  at  first  the 
civil  ruler  was  both  prince  and  priest.  The  philosophy  of 
the  divine  and  the  human  governments  is  thus  the  same. 
To  exemplify.  Law  forbids  one  man  to  take  the  life  of 
another,  and  threatens  death.  Let  us  suppose  that  life  has 
been  taken.  The  law  then  has  been  violated.  But  life 
was  taken  ignorantly  or  accidentally,  and  the- penalty  is  not 
in  that  case  incurred.  Mediatorial  principle  comes  in  and 
modifies  the  action  of  law,  and  the  sin  of  ignorance  is  not 
punished.  "  Malice  prepense,"  knowiedge,  purpose,  must 
be  proved,  to  produce  conviction. — Other  alleviating  cir- 
cumstances might  warrant  an  appeal  to  the  pardoning  pow- 
er reserved  to  the  chief  magistrate,  and  the  mediatorial 
principle  will  again  be  displayed. — In  causes  of  a  different 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  259 

nature,  and  under  a  multitude  of  forms,  law  would  utter  a 
decision  which  would  be  very  oppressive,  and  political 
science  must  refer  such  causes  to  a  "court  of  equity." 
Mere  law,  however  righteous  in  view  of  abstract  principle, 
will  not  answer  for  society  in  its  present  condition.  And 
yet  on  mere  law  the  whole  argument  rests,  which  has  ori- 
ginated all  the  doubts  concerning  the  destiny  of  infants  ; 
and  that  too,  when,  not  onty  has  the  gospel  come  in, 
in  terms  most  forceful  and  tender,  but  when  Jehovah  most 
specifically  appropriates  its  provisions  to  those  who  are  the 
most  helpless — the  Levite,  the  stranger,  the  widow,  the 
fatherless  and  the  orphan — as  though  the  more  helpless  a 
human  being  is,  the  more  certainly  we  may  calculate  on 
divine  grace. 

I  know  very  well,  that  the  law  of  the  state  presumes  no 
man  to  be  ignorant  of  its  statutes.  It  is  a  part  of  the  ne- 
cessary rigour  of  law.  Man  cannot  judge  the  heart;  and 
for  this  reason,  as  well  as  from  its  own  nature,  mere  law 
cannot  be  relaxed.  For  that  very  reason  the  pardoning 
power  has  been  entrusted  to  the  magistrate ;  and  for  that 
same  reason  the  sympathies  of  the  public  mind  so  often 
and  so  readily  appeal  to  principles  of  equity.  So  in  the 
government  of  God,  causes,  as  is  necessary,  hasten  on  to 
their  legitimate  effects  ;  while  yet  the  individual,  who  may 
appear  criminal  under  the  operation,  shall  be  pardoned  by 
both  God  and  man.  The  interminglings  of  the  personal 
and  the  political  systems  require  this  double  action.  But 
can  any  of  us  be  strangers  to  the  wisdom  of  a  policy,  or 
to  the  morality  of  the  jurisprudence  which  leans  to  the  side 
Of  mercy  ?  And  yet  theologians,  living  under  the  mediato- 
rial government,  and  continually  discoursing  about  its  at- 
tributes, seem  to  know  no  remedial  principle  which  can 
cover  the  case  of  infants.  These  are  unceremoniously 
thrown  under  the  action  of  abstract  law,  and  as  "sin  is 
transgression  of  law,"  they  have  incurred  its  penalty;  and 
can  you  believe  they  must  perish  ?   Arc  }uu  doubtful ? 


0(50  LECTURES  ON 

cannot  the  mediatorial  government  rescure,  save,  and  glo- 
rify them  with  the  Redeemer  on  high  ?  Pardon  me — I 
cannot,  must  not,  dare  not,  follow  the  sectarian  in  his  pe- 
trifying speculations. 

We  must  fix  a  different  centre,  or  use  a  larger  radius, 
when  we  would  describe  the  evangelic  circle.  It  has  al- 
ready been  admitted  that  "  sin  is  transgression  of  law." 
But  law  has  been  put  under  mediatorial  restrictions.  Man- 
kind are  called  upon  to  believe.  The  question  then  is, 
what  is  sin  under  this  new  form  of  moral  obligation  ?  As 
most  assuredly  our  accountability  must  be  regulated  by  the 
government  under  which  we  live,  sin  must  be  denned  by 
the  statute  which  that  government  has  proclaimed  ;  and  of 
every  other  rule  ignorance  must  necessarily  be  presumed. 
Accordingly  "  the  Father  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  com- 
mitted all  judgment  to  the  Son;"  neither  shall  we  be 
judged  by  the  law,  but  by  the  gospel.  How  then  does  the 
evangelic  legislator  and  judge  estimate  and  explain  sin  ? 
This  question  you  must  answer,  in  order  to  take  an  intelli- 
gent view  of  the  subject  before  us.  Would  you  go  to  the 
charter  of  a  monarchy,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  constitu- 
tion of  a  republic  ?  or  to  a  code  of  criminal  law,  when  you 
would  define  the  powers  of  a  court  of  equity  ? 

The  apostle  James  has  told  us,  that  "  to  him  who  know- 
eth  to  do  good,  and  docth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin."  The 
apostle  Paul  has  said — "  Happy  is  he  who  condemneth  not 
himself  in  that  thing  which  he  alloweth.  And  he  that 
doubteth  is  damned  if  he  eat,  because  he  eateth  not  of 
faith  :  for  whatsoever  is  not  faith  is  sin."  He  acts 
contrary  to  his  knowledge. 

Jesus  told  the  jews — "  If  ye  were  blind  ye  should  have 
no  sin  ;  but  ye  say,  we  see,  therefore  your  sin  remaineth;" 
and  said  of  them — "  If  I  had  not  come  and  spoken  unto 
them,  they  had  not  had  sin  :  but  now  they  have  no  cloak 
for  their  sin.  If  I  had  not  done  among  them  the  works 
which  none  other  man  did,  they  had  not  had  sin  :  but  now 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  261 

they  have  both  seen  and  hated  both  me  and  my  father."* 
The  jews  should  be  judged  by  the  law,  because  they  were 
under  it ;  the  gentiles  were  not  under  it,  and  could  not  be 
judged  by  it.  Christians  shall  be  judged  by  the  rules  cf 
the  second  covenant,  or  of  the  new  dispensation,  because 
they  are  under  it;  the  heathen  shall  not  be  judged  by 
those  rules,  because  they  have  not  received  those  rules. 
"  How  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard  ?  How  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher  ?  And  how 
shall  they  preach  except  they  be  sent?"  And  yet  the  hea- 
then shall  be  judged  by  the  gospel,  for  "  faith  cometh  by 
hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God.  And  have  they 
not  heard  ?  Yes  verily,  their  sound  went  unto  all  the  earth, 
and  their  words  unto  the  ends  of  the  world. "t  If  they  sin 
against  the  gospel,  or  against  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which 
has  gone  to  them,  though  they  may  not  know  the  present 
dispensation  under  which  we  live,  or  though  they  may  not 
have  the  new  testament  scriptures,  as  the  old  gentiles  had 
not  the  old  testament  scriptures — if  they  sin  against  na- 
ture, as  we  sin  against  the  special  act  of  revelation  afforded 
to  the  election,  they  perish  under  the  same  evangelic  prin- 
ciple of  judgment,  for  they  sin  against  knowledge — the 
knowledge  they  have.     "They  perish  without  law." 

It  is  no  wonder  then  that  the  philosophy  of  civil  govern- 
ment should  be  like  the  philosophy  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment, for  both  are  founded  in  nature.  Nor  is  it  any  mat- 
ter of  wonder  that  theologians  should  have  been  involved 
in  difficulty,  and  run  out  their  speculations  into  such  fear-, 
ful  consequences;  for,  jn  constructing  their  argument  on 
law,  abstractedly  considered,  they  have  forgotten  the  first 
promise,  which  placed  the  world  under  law  in  no  other 
form  than  as  it  has  been  modified  by  mediatorial  restric- 
tions, and  have  abandoned  nature.  You  see  that  sin 
now,  as  it  involves  any  of  us  as  accountable  beings,  or  as  it 
is  to  be  interpreted  in  connexion  with  our  personal  respon- 

*  John  ix,  41.  xv.  21,  24.  t  Rom.  x.  13—21. 


262  LECTURES  ON 

sibility,  must  be  transgression  against  the  word  of  the  Lord 
which  has  come  tons. — against  our  knowledge — the  know- 
ledge  which,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  we  must  be  sup- 
posed to  have.  All  else  are  sins  of  ignorance,  and  are 
covered  by  the  great  sacrifice. 

But  even  with  these  restrictions,  we  have  not  stated  the 
whole  indulgence  afforded  by  the  evangelic  institute.  The 
judgment  of  ignorance,  or  the  presumption  of  knowledge, 
is  not  committed  to  our  discernment,  or  to  our  hasty  and 
partial,  and  censorious  criticism.  All  this  belongs  to  the 
Searcher  of  hearts,  whose  ways  are  not  like  our  ways  and 
whose  thoughts  are  not  like  our  thoughts  ;  but  whose  ways 
and  thoughts  are  as  far  from  ours,  as  heaven  is  distant  from 
earth,  or  east  from  west.  The  old  testament  prophetesses 
"made  the  hearts  of  the  righteous  sad,  whom  God  had  not 
made  sad  ;"  and  the  leaders  of  the  people  caused  them  to 
err.  The  Redeemer  noticed  the  absurdity  of  the  popular 
theologians  of  his  day,  who  were  foolish  enough  to  mark 
the  mote  in  their  brother's  eye,  and  to  forget  the  beam  that 
was  in  their  own ;  and  positively  refused  to  entrust  to  his 
disciples  the  difficult  and  delicate  task  of  separating  the 
tares  from  the  wheat.  Well  knowing  that  they  would  ig- 
norantly,  or  recklessly,  or  in  the  heat  of  party  zeal,  "  pluck 
up  the  wheat  with  the  tares,"  he  reserved  the  judicial  dis- 
tinctions for  the  day  of  judgment;  never  hinting  the  be- 
stowment  of  that  "infallibility"  to  which,  with  such  mon- 
strous absurdity,  some  have  since  pretended. 

Now  then  throw  the  problem  of  infant  salvation  under 
the  light  of  these  principles,  and  where  is  the  difficulty  ? 
Has  the  word  of  the  Lord  come  to  infants  ?  Have  they 
read  the  volume  of  nature  or  revelation?  Have  they  heard, 
that  they  might  believe  ?  Have  their  "senses  been  exer- 
cised to  discern  both  good  and  evil  ?  Do  they  sin  against 
knowledge  ?  if  they  have  done  many  things  which,  judg- 
ed of  by  mere  law,  are  wrong,  have  they  known  to  do 
good  ?  and  in  not  doing  it,  sinned  ?  The  church  under  the 
Jewish  law  was  a  child  under  age.     Was  perdition  her 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  263 

fate  ?  Were  her  sins  then  committed  against  knowledge  ? 
Was  the  sacrifice,  offered  for  sins  of  ignorance,  and  for  the 
whole,  of  no  use  ?  or  did  the  gospel,  as  preached  to 
Abraham,  as  involved  in  the  typical  character  of  the  insti- 
tute they  had  received,  or  as  wrapped  up  in  the  mystery  of 
which  their  official  circumstances  formed  a  part,  cover 
every  iniquity ;  and  protect  them  from  the  consequences 
of  sin  committed  against  law  ?  Did  the  covering  cherubim, 
overspreading  the  mercy-seat,  hide  the  law  ?  Has  the 
mediatorial  righteousness  of  the  Son  of  God  been  thrown 
as  a  mantle  over  the  sins  of  this  typical  child  ?  and  can 
you  feel  any  difficulty  about  your  little  ones?  whom  the 
Redeemer  has  recognised  as  belon^ino:  to  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  and  whose  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

Farther.     When  the  Redeemer  told  his  disciples — "  Ex- 
cept you  be   converted,  and  become  ?.s  little  children, 
ye  shall  not  enter  into  the    kingdom   of  heaven;"    but 
"whosoever  shall  humble  himself  as  this  little  child,  the 
same  is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  and  whoso 
shall  receive  one  such  little  child,  receiveth  me ;  but  who- 
so shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which  believe  in  me, 
it  were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone  we.e  hanged  about 
his  neck,  and  that  he  were  drowned  in   the   depth  of  the 
sea" — how  much  "sin,"  as  "transgre?°'on  of  law,"  dees  he 
charge  against  infants  ?     When  he  "took  little  children  in 
his  arms,  and  put  his  hands  on  them  and   blessed  them," 
and  assigned  as  the  reason — "of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven;"  when  his  apostle  said,  that  the  unbelieving  hus- 
band is  sanctified  by  the  believing  wife,  and  the  unbelieving 
wife  is  sanctified  by  the  believing  husband,  in  both  of  which 
cases  the  children  are  holy  ;   and  when  the  same  apostle 
exhorted  the  Corinthians — "  Brethren  be  not  children  in 
understanding,  howbeit  in  malice  be  ye  children,  but  in 
understanding  be  ye  men;"  how  much  "  sin  as  transgres- 
sion of  law,"  would  theologians  suppose  them  to  aver  in 


264  LECTURES  ON 

the  case  of  children  ?  Do  you  not  perceive  that  the  con* 
dition  of  children  is  professedly  covered  by  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  Son  of  God. 

The  theological  dogma,  with  which  we  are  in  conflict, 
seems  to  have  been  advanced  without  any  reference  to  the 
attributes  of  the  new  covenant.  Describing  that  institute, 
Jehovah  long  since  promised  by  his  prophet,  as  quoted  by 
his  apostle — "  I  will  be  merciful  to  their  unrighteousness, 
and  their  sins  and  their  iniquities  I  will  remember  no  more;" 
and  yet  ministers  of  the  new  testament  can  discern  no- 
thing moral  in  the  condition  of  infants,  saving  that  they  are 
sinners.  Perhaps  they  will  reject  the  promise  just  re- 
cited, as  having  no  application  to  the  case  in  hand,  al- 
though it  was  originally  given  in  reply  to  the  proverb — 
"The  fathers  have  eaten  a  sour  grape,  and  th?  children's 
teeth  are  set  on  edge,"  and  was  therefore  professedly  in- 
tended to  meet  the  action  of  social  law.  They  may,  per- 
haps, as  rapidly  despatch  the  clause  which  can  be  adduced 
from  the  second  commandment,  and  which  evidently  belongs 
to  the  general  administrstion  of  the  divine  government — "  I 
the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity 
of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,  unto  the  third  and  fourth 
generation  of  them  that  hate  me,  and  showing  mercy  unto 
thousands  of  them  that  love  me,  and  keep  my  command- 
ments." Children,  it  might  be  churlishly  said,  are  not  men- 
tioned here,  although  the  last  clause  is  palpably  correlative 
with  the  first ;  and  the  continuous  operation  of  social  law 
under  different  institutes,  appears  to  be  the  very  thing,  and 
the  only  thing,  that  is  stated.  Let  the  Spirit  himself  speak — 
"  The  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting 
upon  them  that  fear  him,  and  his  righteousness  unto  chil- 
dren's CHILDREN." 

But  our  commentary  may  be  still  resisted  ;  or,  while  it 
may  be  admitted  that  children  are  referred  to,  it  may  still 
be  urged  that  the  quotations  do  not  cover  the  whole  sub- 
ject, and  that  they  only  state  exceptions ;  for  the  language 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  265 

is  evidently  applied  to  "them  that  fear  him,"  and  to  their 
children.  Then  let  me  ask,  why  the  children  of  those  ?  The 
exceptions,  admitting  them  to  be  such,  are  ranged  under 
a  particular  rule,  and  are  therefore  not  arbitrary  nor  myste- 
rious. That  rule  expresses  the  very  principle — the  con- 
nexion between  righteousness  and  life — which  Jehovah  is 
carrying  out  every  where  ;  and  it  expresses  that  principle 
as  belonging  to  social  law.  The  symbolical  character  of 
the  new  covenant  is  therefore  the  reason  of  the  operation ; 
and  the  new  covenant  is  a  symbol  of  gospel.  Now  gospel 
rests  on  the  righteousness  of  Christ  as  bringing  all  men  into 
a  justification  of  life.  The  symbolical  action  is  consequently 
the  proof  of  the  general  action — the  particular  exceptions 
confirm  the  general  rule — all  infants  are,  therefore,  co- 
vered by  the  mediatorial  righteousness  of  the  Son  of  God. 
They  are  identified  with  the  mediatorial  system,  just  as  they 
are  with  the  intellectual  system — just  as  they  are  with  the 
animal  system — just  as  they  are  with  the  political  system ; 
and  no  difficulty  occurs  any  where  but  in  theology.  Parents 
carefully  cherish  the  bodies  of  their  children,  and  never 
doubt  their  resurrection  because  their  bodies  are  small  when 
they  die  ;  the  annihilation  of  their  spirits  is  not  inferred 
because  they  had  received  no  intellectual  cultivation  ;  their 
interest  in  the  political  institutions  of  the  land  is  not  de- 
nied— their  rights  in  law  are  not  rejected — because  they 
have  not  apprehended  political  principles ;  and  why  should 
their  rights  in  the  mediatorial  administration  be  so  enig- 
matical ? 

In  all  ordinary  cases  children  are  put  under  tuition,  and 
are  not  considered  as  culpable  and  degraded,  because  they 
are  ignorant  of  doctrines  and  statutes  beyond  their  years. 
And  may  not  the  mediatorial  Prince  place  them  "under 
tutors  and  governors,"  without  rejecting  them  as  guilty,  and 
worthy  of  perdition,  because  they  have  not  discerned  both 
good  and  evil  while  their  senses  have  not  been  exercised  ? 

— But  here  is  the  origin  of  all  our  ecclesiastical  strife. 

Vol.  II.— 23 


266  LECTURES  ON 

Personal  responsibility  has  been  lost  sight  of;  every  thing 
is  merged  in  ihe  results  of  the  social  system  ;  and  that  so- 
cial system  is  always — or  for  the  most  part — considered  to 
be  violated  law,  bringing  in  death.     Wherever  good  is  the 
result,  and  the  social  operation  is  supposed  to  be  merciful, 
why  then  we  are  told,  it  is  an  inexplicable  anomaly — a  glo- 
rious mystery  of  grace — God  so  determined  in  his  sovereign 
purpose  of  election,  and  he  gives  no  account  of  his  actions. 
But  how  theologians  can  see  so  distinctly  the  connexion  be- 
tween Adam  and   children,  while  their  vision  is  so  in- 
distinct in  view  of  the  relation  between  Christ  and  children, 
is  the  wonder.     Could  they  but  learn,  that  the  mediatorial 
government  recognises  personal  responsibility,  that  its  de- 
sign is  to  cultivate  the  moral  sense,  or  make  the  mora]  agent 
perfect  in  view  of  conscience ;  and  that  the  remedial  ope- 
ration consists   in  moral  tuition  under  the  superintending 
care  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  their  difficulties  would  be  removed, 
Christ  is  the  light  of  the  world — the  Holy  Spirit  convinces 
the  world — knowledge  is  the  attribute  of  the  saint.     There 
is  no  other  principle  of  reformation,  where  sin — which  is 
darkness  and  wraps  the  world  in  ignorance — prevails.  Po- 
litical economists  must  learn  the  value  of  the  moral  sense. 
Civilians  must  teach  a  better  philosophy  than  that  of  ab- 
stract law.     Theologians  must  turn  from  sectarian  infalli- 
bility to  conscience.     After  every  other  experiment  has 
failed,  moral   education  must  display  itself  as  the  world's 
last  hope  ;  and  when  this  only  remedy  shall  have  been  fair- 
ly tried,  "  all  shall  know  the  Lord  from  the  least  unto  the 
greatest."     In  such  a  case,  what  other  destiny  can  await 
those  who  die  in  infancy,  than  that  which  the  gospel,  the 
social  system  under  which  they  live  and-die,  brings  to  light 

LIFE  AND  IMMORTALITY  ? 

It  may  now,  in  conclusion,  be  asked,  what  shall  infants, 
on  the  preceding  principles,  praise  God  for  ?  I  answer, 
for  life  and  immortality — have  their  parents  any  more? 
But  you  may  say,  no  sin  is  forgiven  to  them — but  many  sina 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  267 

are  forgiven  to  their  parents.  But  how  much  sin  have  in- 
fants committed,  even  on  the  system  we  reject?  As  many 
as  their  parents  ?  For  what  shall  "elect  infants"  give  praise  ? 
If  Adam  had  never  sinned,  would  he  have  had  no  harp  to 
tune  in  glory  ?  or,  would  his  children,  enjoying  life  and 
bliss  in  this  world  as  the  consequence  of  his  righteousness, 
have  passed  through  this  life,  without  discovering  objects 
for  praise,  or  feeling  influences  that  would  wake  up  "melo- 
dy in  their  hearts  to  the  Lord  ?"  These  questions  you  see, 
drive  us  into  a  mere  commercial  comparison ;  and  then, 
what  can  John  have  to  give  praise  for  compared  with  Peter 
or  Paul  ?  What  trifling!  when  all  God's  character  shall  be 
understood,  and  all  his  glory  shall  be  displayed — when 
moral  excellence  shall  be  set  forth  in  its  own  cloudless  bril- 
liance and  its  supreme  control — when  we  shall  see  God  as 
he  is,  and  shall  be  like  him — when  those  who  have  been 
brought  from  a  world  of  sin  and  death — and,  seated  by  the 
Redeemer  on  his  throne,  shall  review  the  remedial  opera- 
tion which  made  them  partakers  of  life  and  immortality — 
think  you  that  children,  gathered  with  the  saints  to  know, 
admire  and  enjoy  all  these  things,  shall  lack  subjects  of 
praise  ? — Ah !  me.  What  a  puny  affair  scholastic  theology 
is !  How  could  the  world  believe  in  the  infallibility  which 
counterfeited  such  dogmas  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  glo- 
ry ?  or  pay  any  respect  to  creeds,  the  symbols  of  such  ab- 
surdities ?  It  is  high  time  these  parables  of  a  false  philoso- 
phy, which  never  have  made  the  worshippers  perfect  in 
view  of  conscience,  should  be  cast,  with  the  idols  of  the 
heathen,  "to  the  moles  and  the  bats." 

Our  conclusion  then  is — That  infants  are  placed  under 
the  government  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  made  Head  over 
all  things :  that  they  are  partakers  of  life  and  immortality 
as  brought  to  light  by  the  gospel :  and  that  their  character 
is  developing  under  a  system  which  holds  their  race  re- 
sponsible, each  according  to  his  ability,  or  according  to  the 
light  dispensed.     If,  as  infants,  they  die,  they  are  made  par- 


238  LECTURES  ON 

takers  of  life  and  immortality  ; — and  as  it  cannot  be  said 
of  them,  "they  knew  to  do  good,  and  did  it  not,"  nothing  is 
in  plea  against  them  at  the  bar  of  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth. 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


Reason  why  Jekovah-Elohim  sent  our  first  parents  out  of 

Eden — The  principle  of  Labor — Jewish  Laws — Provisions 

for  the  Poor — New  Testament  regulations — Origin  and 

evil  of  Public   Charities — State  of  Society — Remedies — 

Ecclesiastical  mistakes —  General  conclusions. 

The  new  constitution,  so  precisely  suited  to  man  as  per- 
sonally responsible,  having  been  announced,  Jehovah- 
Elohim  sent  our  first  parents  out  of  the  garden  which  he 
had  planted  for  them,  and  which  had  become  the  scene  of 
their  crime  and  shame.  Why  did  he  do  so  ?  Why  did  he 
not  suffer  them  to  remain  and  enjoy  its  beauties  and  its 
fruits  ?  Was  not  this  step  unnecessarily  severe  ?  These 
questions  merit  a  deliberate  answer. 

The  historian  represents  Jehovah-Elohim  as  tenderly 
commiserating  the  situation  in  which  these  unhappy  be- 
ings had  involved  themselves  by  sin ;  and  assigning  their 
ejectment  from  paradise  to  the  same  general  cause. — 
"And  Jehovah-Elohim  said — Behold  the  man  has  become 
as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  evil.  And  now,  lest  he 
put  forth  his  hand,  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and 
eat,  and  live  forever ;  therefore  Jehovah-Elohim  sent  him 
forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden  to  till  the  ground  from 
whence  he  was  taken."  As  Adam  had  brought  himself 
into  the  condition  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  by 
eating  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  he  might  still  continue  to  eat 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  269 

of  the  trees  of  the  garden — and  might  so  live  forever. 
To  prevent  his  thus  living  forever,  he  was  driven  to  till 
the  ground  from  whence  he  had  been  taken. 

The  reason  seems  to  be  sufficient.  But  the  question  is — 
what  is  really  meant  by  it  ?  Are  we  to  suppose  that  if 
Adam  had  eaten  of  the  trees  of  life,  he  would  have  never 
died!  Perhaps  the  generality  of  readers  have  taken  up 
this  very  impression ;  and  do  in  fact  suppose  that,  by  these 
means,  he  would  have  escaped  death.  Nor  is  it  easy  to 
see  how  any  one,  from  the  first  view  of  the  case,  could 
avoid  entertaining  that  idea.  But  is  it  not  strange  that 
Adam  himself  never  thought  of  this  expedient — at  least 
so  far  as  the  narrative  reports.  Instead  of  sewing  rig- 
leaves  together,  he  might,  if  he  did  not,  have  resorted  to 
this  simple  and  better  remedy.  Is  it  not  strange  that 
Satan  never  suggested  it  ?  And  stranger  still,  that  Jeho- 
vah-Elohim  should  have  prevented  it,  when  he  was  pro- 
fessedly stating  the  outlines  of  a  remedial  plan  ?  or  that 
he  should  have  excluded  Adam  from  the  means  of  living 
forever,  when  the  very  object  of  Christ's  death  and  resur- 
rection is  to  bring  in  eternal  life  ? — This  view,  arising  so 
directly  from  the  appearance  which  the  narrative  gives  to 
the  fact,  cannot  be  sustained. 

Moreover,  the  physical  agency,  by  which  death  was 
brought  in,  was  the  ground,  as  cursed.  The  tree  of  life,  if 
such  a  particular  tree  there  was,  must  have  been  material 
in  its  own  nature  ;  and  consequently,  being  subject  to  the 
deleterious  influence,  under  which  all  material  things 
change  and  wither,  it  was  liable  to  decay.  How  could  it, 
while  under  the  general  sentence  which  followed  Adam's 
sin,  be  the  means  of  imparting  everlasting  life  to  him  ? 
The  idea  is  manifestly  most  incongruous — there  is  nothing, 
in  any  form,  plausible  about  it.# 

It  has  farther  been  supposed,  that  though  Adam,  by 
eating  of  the  trees  of  life,  would  have  lived  forever,  yet 

*Lecture  VIII. 

23* 


270  LECTURES  ON 

he  would   have   led   a  life   of  misery.     But   from   what 
source  would  this  misery  have  proceeded  ?     That  source 
must  have  been  external  or  internal.     If  the  first,  in  what 
way  could   external   agents   injure  an   immortal   being? 
Could  they  inflict  disease  ?    Could  they  make  him  feel  the 
sensation  of  want  ?     Could  they  occasion  any  alarms  ?     If 
internal,  then  what  would  his  misery  be?     Not  disease — 
for  disease  is  the  working  of  death ;  disease  could  make 
no   impression    upon   his    immortal   imperishable    frame. 
Would  it  be  a   sense  of  guilt  ?     Then  this  living  forever 
would  be  only  temporal  life  ;  and  where,  when,  and  how, 
has    spiritual   life,  which   theologians   carry  in  their  spe- 
culations up  to  this  very  point,  been  dropped  from   their 
thoughts  ?     According  to  this  view  man  would  live  for- 
ever, while  he  was  spiritually  dead  ;  and   as  the   conse- 
quence of  eating  of  the  tree  of  life  !  i,  e.  consistently  with 
the    doctrine    under   consideration — the    consequence    of 
Adam's  eating  of  the  forbidden  fruit  was  temporal,  spiritu- 
al, and  eternal  death.    But  it  is  supposed  that  eating  of  the 
trees  of  life  would  have  controlled  the  sentence,  and  man 
should  not  have  died.     Then  surely,  if  his  eating  of  the 
trees  of  life  would  have  controlled  the  effects  of  his  eat- 
ing the  forbidden  fruit,  the  consequence  of  eating  the  for- 
bidden fruit  could  not  have  been  death  temporal,  spiritual, 
and  eternal ;  or  the  consequence  of  his  eating  of  the  tree  of 
life  would  be   life,  temporal,   spiritual,   and  eternal.     No 
sense  of  guilt  could  exist  in  the  case,  and  the  account  of 
the  fall  is  a  mere  fable. 

The  truth  is,  that  this  whole  matter  turns  upon  the  force 
of  the  original  word,  rendered  forever.  Now  this  word, 
as  formerly  observed,  may  signify  endless  duration  ;  but  it 
does  not  necessarily  do  so.  It  is  as  often  finite,  as  it  is  infi- 
nite, when  used  by  the  scriptural  writers  ;  and  it  implies 
a  duration  that  is  not  known,  but  which  may  be  longer  or 
shorter,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  particular  subject 
to  which  it  is  applied.     To  repeat  the  examples  already 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  271 

adduced.  If  a  hebrew  servant  did  not  wish  to  cc  go  out 
free,"  his  master  was  required  to  bring  him  to  the  judges, 
and  to  the  door  post,  and  to  bore  his  ear  through  with  an 
awl;  which  being  done,  he  became  a  servant  forever. 
So  Hannah  proposed  to  bring  her  child  Samuel  to  the  tem- 
ple, that  he  might  appear  before  the  Lord,  and  there  abide 
forever.  The  passover  was  established  as  an  everlasting 
memorial: — "You  shall  keep  it,"  said  Jehovah,  "a  feast 
to  Jehovah  throughout  your  generations ;  you  shall  keep 
it  a  feast,  by  an  ordinance,  forever."  In  the  case  before 
us,  as  in  that  of  the  hebrew  servant,  the  term  is  simply 
applied  to  the  duration  of  a  man's  life.  Adam  was  driven 
from  the  garden  to  prevent  him  from  spending  his  life  in 
eating  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees  of  life  ;  and  he  was  sent 
out  to  till  the  ground  from  whence  he  had  been  taken. 
The  term  forever,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  call 
for  nothing  more :  and  this  interpretation  leaves  the  whole 
matter  plain  and  unembarrassed.* 

The  Lord  had  just  informed  Adam  that,  in  consequence 
of  his  sin,  he  had  forfeited  his  peculiar  privileges ;  that  he 
was  now  destined  to  a  life  of  labor ;  that  he  should  from 
henceforth  obtain  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow ;  and 
that  the  earth  would  bring  forth  briars  and  thorns  unto  him, 
which  would  occasion  much  toil  and  sorrow.  This  would 
certainly  be  any  thing  but  an  agreeable  prospect  to  one  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  better  circumstances ;  and  he 
would  very  naturally  prefer  to  live  on  the  fruit  of  the 
trees  of  life,  growing  luxuriantly  and  spontaneously,  rather 
than  to  eat  the  herb  of  the  field,  which  was  to  be  the  pro- 
duct of  his  own  labor.  Jehovah-Elohim  therefore  inter- 
feres, and  puts  him  directly  under  the  necessities  of  the 
condition  to  which  he  had  reduced  himself;  breaks  up  all 
those  associations  which  could  now  lead  onlv  to  indolent 
and  hurtful  indulgence,  and  sends  him  forth  to  work. 
Thus  was  established  the  operative  system,  which  has  re- 

*Lectures  VII.  VIII.  Kennicott's  Dissertation  on  the  Tree  of  Life, 


272  LECTURES  ON 

ferred  the  means  of  human  subsistence  to  human  labor; 
a  system  which  must  be  perpetuated  with  all  the  coming 
generations  of  mankind ;  and  which  shall  be  as  steadfastly 
kept  up  as  the  sun  in  its  course.  Labor  or  starvation  is 
the  simple  alternative.  There  is  no  escaping  from  it ; 
there  is  no  modifying  it ;  there  is  no  putting  forth  the  hand 
to  pluck  the  fruit  of  the  trees  of  life ;  nor  can  the  experi- 
ment of  a  different  system  be  tried  in  any  form,  without 
inflicting  an  injury  upon  individuals  and  upon  society — an 
injury  which  will  be  felt  to  the  whole  extent  of  the  ex- 
periment. Here  is  the  first  principle  of  political  economy  ; 
and  the  true  and  only  remedy  for  the  immense  evils  of 
pauperism,  which  no  effectual  method  has  yet  been  de- 
vised to  arrest. — This  principle  I  now  propose  to  consider 
at  large,  and  in  its  various  bearings  on  society:  as  such  a 
discussion  may,  perhaps,  be  the  very  best  form  in  which 
the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  to  man,  in  removing 
him  from  Eden,  may  be  made  to  appear ;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  the  doctrine  of  personal  responsibility  will  be 
still  farther  illustrated. 

Under  the  Jewish  polity,  this  same  system  was  made  the 
basis  of  all  the  political  regulations,  which  Moses,  by  the 
divine  appointment,  enacted.  There  were  many  statutes 
then  enforced,  which  may  appear  to  a  modern  reader  very 
singular,  perhaps  even  objectionable,  and  which  are  alto- 
gether inappropriate  now.  But  circumstances  have  been 
very  much  altered  ;  society,  then  young  and  immature,  has 
now  arrived  at  full  age  ;  bondage  and  minority  have  been 
exchanged  for  liberty  and  manhood;  and  the  external 
policy,  which  must  be  sustained  in  view  of  the  present 
condition  of  mankind,  is  necessarily  different  from  that 
which  any  legislator  could  then  have  adopted.  Still  the 
general  principles,  which  belong  to  the  intellectual  .and 
animal  natures  of  man,  must  be  essentially  the  same  ;  and 
Moses  regarded  nothing  with  a  more  careful  eye,  than  he 
did  the  indissoluble  connexion  between  human  labor  and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  273 

human  subsistence,  which  God  established  on  that  event- 
ful day,  when  he  sent  our  first  parents  from  the  garden. 

Moses  did  not  forget  the  poor ;  or  push  the  system  so  far 
as  to  disregard  the  emergencies  which  are  continually  oc- 
curring; and  under  which  a  fellow  man  might  "  fall  into 
decay" — as  he  expresses  it.  His  code  has  specified  several 
provisions,  by  which  the  poor  might  be  relieved  from  any 
present  distress ;  but  they  seem  to  have  been  intended 
rather  to  preserve,  than  to  set  aside  the  original  system, 
with  which  the  Mediator  commenced  his  administration. 
They  are  such  as  follow — "  when  ye  reap  the  harvest  of 
the  land,  thou  shalt  not  wholly  reap  the  corners  of  thy  field, 
neither  sfralt  thou  gather  the  gleanings  of  thy  harvest.  And 
thou  shalt  not  glean  thy  vineyard,  neither  shalt  thou  gather 
every  grape  of  thy  vineyard ;  thou  shalt  leave  them  for 
the  poor  and  stranger."*  "  Six  years  thou  shalt  sow  thy 
land,  and  shalt  gather  in  the  fruits  thereof.  But  the  sev- 
enth year  thou  shalt  let  it  rest  and  lie  still;  that  the  poor 
of  thy  people  may  eat :  and  what  they  leave,  the  beasts  of 
the  field  shall  eat.  In  like  manner  thou  shalt  deal  with  thy 
vineyard  and  oliveyard."t 

The  poor  then  had  the  seventh  year — they  had  the  cor- 
ners of  the  field — the  gleanings  of  the  field,  of  the  vine- 
yard, and  of  the  oliveyard.  What  was  thus  to  be  acquir- 
ed, called  for  their  own  labor ;  and  was  not  a  single  gratui- 
ty bestowed  upon  the  idle  and  dissolute.  Neither  was  the 
labor  compulsory,  any  farther  than  the  actual  necessities  of 
life  made  it  so — a  sort  of  compulsion,  which,  by  the  laws 
of  his  own  being,  every  man  should  feel,  and  ought  to  feel. 
But  it  was  not  the  compulsion  of  law.  Every  thing  was 
left  to  the  moral  force  of  the  individual  character  of  the 
poor.  The  supply  which  was  thus  afforded,  did  most  sa- 
credly regard  their  character,  and  was  intended  to  cherish 
it  as  far  as  the  nature  of  the  case  would  allow.  Nor  yet 
was  the  provision  thus  made  of  a,  public  description,  furnish* 
*  Lev?  xix.  9—11.  t  Exod.  xxiii.  10,  11. 


=274  LECTURES  ON 

ing  a  protracted  series  of  degrading  statistics,  and  handing 
down  from  age  to  age  the  palsying  records  of  a  public  es- 
tablishment. Every  man  was  the  almoner  of  his  own 
bounty,  the  trustee  of  his  own  charity ;  and  the  poor,  who 
gleaned  in  his  fields  and  vineyards  and  oliveyards,  gather- 
ed by  their  own  labor  whatever  they  could,  thinking  of, 
dreading,  feeling,  no  public  exposure.  In  all  this  there 
was  no  degradation  of  the  poor;  no  depressing  them  in 
their  own  esteem  ;  no  unfeeling  attraction  of  the  public  eye 
to  their  condition ;  no  dissolving  of  the  ties  which  bound 
them  to  society  ;  no  breaking  up  of  the  mutual  sympathies, 
which  resulted  from  their  being  brethren  and  enjoying  a 
common  heritage;  but  relief  was  afforded  in  the  safest, 
the  most  humane  and  honorable  manner.  Or  if  it  may  be 
supposed  that  any  degradation  was  experienced  by  these 
eleemosynary  provisions,  yet  they  are  evidently  designed 
to  make  that  degradation  as  light,  and  to  counteract  it  as  far 
as  possible — by  calling  out,  on  the  part  of  the  poor,  what- 
ever character  they  had ;  and  taking  from  the  bounty  itself 
much  of  the  appearance  of  a  gratuity  :  and  by  not  only 
securing  to  the  poor  the  heart-felt  sympathies  of  their  breth- 
ren, but  taking  care  that  those  sympathies  should  not  run 
riot,  and  become  the  mere  ebullitions  of  undisciplined  feel- 
ing. The  question  of  almsgiving  was  thus  put  into  all  its 
moral  connexions;  and  the  almoner  had  something  more  to 
do,  than  merely  to  shed  a  tear  and  give  a  mite.  The  poor 
man  was  his  neighbor,  became  his  companion,  and  might 
be  courted  as  his  fellow  traveller  to  eternity.  He  is  thy 
brother,  said  Moses. 

Among  the  hebrews,  it  was  a  custom  to  tithe  all  the  in- 
crease of  their  seed ;  to  go  up  to  the  place  where  the  Lord 
had  chosen  to  put  his  name  ;  and  to  eat  before  the  Lord. 
They  carried  thither  the  tithe  of  their  corn,  of  their  wine, 
of  their  oil,  and  of  the  firstlings  of  their  herds,  and  of  their 
flocks.  Or  if  they  thought  the  way  too  long,  or  found  it 
very  inconvenient  to  carry  up  their  tithe  to  the  chosen 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  275 

place,  they  were  at  liberty  to  sell  their  tithe ;  and,  taking 
the  money,  they  might  on  the  spot,  buy  whatsoever  their 
soul  lusted  after,  oxen,  sheep,  wine,  strong  drink,  or  what- 
ever they  desired — and  feast  with  their  households  before 
the  Lord.  On  these  great  festivals  they  were  not  to  forget 
the  levite,  who  had  no  inheritance  among  them,  nor  the 
stranger,  nor  the  fatherless,  nor  the  widow.  This  was 
another  provision  in  behalf  of  the  poor,  which  was  calcu- 
lated to  affect  their  character  and  standing  in  the  commu- 
nity, in  a  very  favorable  manner.  It  preserved  their  bro- 
therhood and  prevented  their  sinking  into  disgrace ;  it  stim- 
ulated them  to  action,  and  cherished  their  most  honorable 
feelings  ;  it  hushed  their  complaints  and  awakened  their 
best  affections ;  it  tutored  even  the  orphan  in  social  virtue, 
by  extending  the  fostering  care  of  a  kind  parentage,  and 
prepared  him,  not  only  to  display  the  most  enthusiastic  pa- 
triotism, but  the  most  filial  regard  to  the  religious  institu- 
tions of  the  land.  Politically  and  morally  considered,  it 
must  ever  be  a  most  disastrous  occurrence,  when  the  poor 
are  cut  off  from  their  interest  in  the  state,  or  from  the  friend- 
ships and  great  social  movements  of  the  community  to 
which  they  belong.  They  grow,  in  such  a  case,  into  a 
distinct,  independent,  and  degraded  class  ;  and  they  acquire 
an  anomalous  character,  which  fits  them  to  commit  depre- 
dations on  society,  or  prepares  them  to  execute  a  despot's 
will.  Moses  wisely  prevented  all  this  ;  and,  by  preserving, 
them  in  their  political  and  moral  standing  as  an  integral  part 
of  society,  he  secured  all  their  feelings  and  efforts  in  harmo- 
ny with  the  general  weal.  His  statute  was  founded  on  princi- 
ples of  a  fine  moral  cast,  which  the  Redeemer  himself  distinct- 
ly recognised,  when  he  said — "When  thou  makest  a  sup- 
per or  a  dinner,  call  not  thy  friends,  nor  thy  brethren,  nei- 
ther thy  kinsmen,  nor  thy  rich  neighbors ;  lest  they  also 
bid  thee  again,  and  a  recompense  be  made  thee.  But  when 
thou  makest  a  feast,  call  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the  lame, 
the  blind ;  and  thou  shalt  be  blessed,  for  they  cannot  re- 


07G  LECTURES  ON 

compense  thee :  for  thou  shalt  be  recompensed  at  the  re- 
surrection of  the  just." 

Moses  farther  provided  for  the  poor,  by  requiring  that 
their  wages  should  be  faithfully  and  promptly  paid ;  by  af- 
fording them  every  facility  to  redeem  their  land  when  it 
was  sold ;  and  by  liberally  assisting  them,  when  they  were 
reduced  to  want ;  i.  e.  according  to  the  laws  he  ordained, 
the  poor  must  not  be  oppressed  nor  maltreated ;  their  hard- 
ships must  not  be  cruelly  increased  ;  but  rather  they  them- 
selves must  be  sustained  and  helped.  "Thou  shalt  not," 
said  this  lawgiver,  "  harden  thy  heart,  nor  shut  thine  hand 
from  thy  poor  brother ;  but  thou  shalt  open  thine  hand  wide 
unto  him,  and  shalt  surely  lend  him  sufficient  for  his  need, 
in  that  which  he  wanteth.  Beware  that  there  be  not  a 
thought  in  thy  wicked  heart,  saying — the  seventh  year,  the 
year  of  release  is  at  hand ;  and  thy  eye  be  evil  against  thy 
poor  brother,  and  thou  givest  him  nought."  This  assist- 
ance was  to  be  afforded  by  lending  to  the  poor  according  to 
their  necessity,  and  was  to  be  extended  cheerfully  and 
with  all  integrity.  It  was  not  a  public  charity,  but  a 
matter  of  private  concern,  by  which  a  sufferer  was  ena- 
bled to  meet  some  emergency,  without  any  sacrifice  of 
character. 

It  is  true,  Moses  had  no  beggars,  as  they  are  now  term- 
ed, to  provide  for.  Why,  or  how,  on  his  principles  of  le- 
gislation, which  were  so  admirably  calculated  to  tutor,  and 
elevate  the  moral  feelings,  both  of  the  giver  and  the  re- 
ceiver, should  he  have  any?  Indeed,  says  Michaelis — "If 
we  trace  back  the  history  of  most  nations,  to  their  ancient 
state  of  general  poverty,  we  shall  find,  the  farther  we  go 
back,  that  beggars  more  and  more  decrease,  until  they  al- 
most entirely  disappear  in  statu  natures.  Perhaps,  instead 
of  them,  we  may  occasionally  meet  with  an  account  of 
some  brave  man,  who  by  the  labor  of  his  hands,  could 
scarcely  earn  bread  enough  for  himself  and  his  children ; 
and  who  actually  was  under  the  apprehension  of  starving, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  277 

"when,  to  save  his  country,  he  was  called  from  the  plough 
to  the  dictatorship."*  All  this  is  to  be  accounted  for,  on 
the  one  hand,  by  that  vigor  of  individual  character,  whose 
force  and  delicacy  Moses  seemed  to  be  so  anxious  to  pre- 
serve ;  and  on  the  other,  by  the  absence  of  those  public 
charities,  which  have  corrupted  the  poor  without  relieving 
them.  The  Mosaic  law  comes  in  as  a  commentary  on  the 
general  statute,  given  at  first;  and  which  made  the  means 
of  subsistence  to  depend  on  human  labor. 

In  the  new  testament,  our  subject  is  presented  in  the 
same  general  form  ;  and  the  principles  which  belong  to  it 
are  very  briefly,  but  very  distinctly,  stated.  "The  labo- 
rer" is  emphatically  declared  to  be  "wrorthy  of  his  hire  ;" 
and  the  withholding  of  it  is  very  severely  reprehended. 
"Behold,"  says  James,  "the  hire  of  the  laborers  which 
have  reaped  down  your  fields,  which  is  of  you  kept  back 
by  fraud,  crieth ;  and  the  cries  of  them  which  have  reap- 
ed are  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth." — The 
necessity  for  labor  is  declared  with  equal  point:  and  the 
neglect  of  it  is  condemned  with  equal  severity: — "For 
even  when  we  were  with  you,"  said  Paul,  "this  we  com- 
manded you,  that  if  any  man  would  not  work,  neither 
should  he  eat.  For  we  hear  that  there  are  some  who  walk 
among  you  disorderly,  working  not  at  all,  but  are  busy  bo- 
dies. Now  them  that  are  such,  we  command  and  exhort 
by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  with  quietness  they  work, 
and  eat  their  own  bread."  And  again — "  But  if  any  pro- 
vide not  for  his  own,  and  especially  for  those  of  his  own 
house,  he  hath  denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infi- 
del." Christianity  therefore,  is,  in  this  respect,  "the  same 
nowT  that  it  was  when  the  Seed  of  the  woman  was  promis- 
ed, and  man  was  sent  forth  to  till  the  ground  whence  he 
was  taken. 

Legislation  for  the  poor  has  not  been  forgotten  by  the 
apostles,  as  is  very  evident  from  a  great  variety  of  facts, 

*  Comment,  art.  142. 
Vol.  II.— 24 


£78  LECTURES  OPf 

which  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  repeat.     Paul,  speaking 
of  the  reception  he  had  met  with  from  Peter,  James  and 
John,  remarks — "  Only  they  would  that  we  should  remem- 
ber the  poor ;  the  same  which  I  also  was  forward  to  do." 
It  was  not  uncommon  to  have  collections  made  by  the 
churches,    for  the   relief  of  the  poor ;  and   though    Paul 
sanctioned  and  directed  them,  yet  he  seems  to  have  his  own 
fears  of  the  consequences,  and  appeared  very  anxious  that 
this  species  of  public  charity  should  be  confined  to  those 
who  are   "  widows  indeed."     In  writing  to  Timothy,  he 
directs — "  If  any  widow  have   children   or  nephews,  let 
them  learn  first  to  show  piety  at  home,  and  to  requite  their 
parents;  for  that  is  good  and  acceptable  before  God."  And 
again — "  If  any  man  or  woman  that  believeth  have  widows, 
let  them  relieve  them,  and  let  not  the  church  be  charged  : 
that  it  may  relieve  them  that  are  widows  indeed.     Had 
these  rules  been  duly  regarded,  and  had  their  philosophy 
been  understood,  the  state  and  the  church  might  have  been 
saved  at  this  time  a  thousand  evils,  under  which  they  are 
ineffectually,  but  loudly,  complaining. 

The  Master  himself,  in  correcting  the  many  abuses  which 
he  detected  in  his  own  house,  reproved  the  pharisees,  be- 
cause they  taught,  that  a  man  might  take  ih&t  portion  of  his 
substance  with  which  he  should  have  supported  an  aged 
father  or  mother,  and  present  it  as  a  gift  to  the  sanctuary. 
Such  offerings  were  not  acceptable  in  God's  sight. — When; 
at  another  time,  he  discovered  the  pharisees,  distributing 
their  alms  in  the  most  public  and  ostentatious  manner,  he 
described  them  as  a  set  of  hypocrites,  and  took  occasion  to 
lay  down  this  general  rule — "  When  thou  doest  alms,  let 
not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand  doeth ;  that 
thine  alms  may  be  in  secret :  and  thy  Father,  which  seeth 
in  secret,  himself  shall  reward  thee  openly."  A  rule  which 
has  long  since  been  forgotten,  and  given  place  to  public 
charities,  so  extensive  and  splendid,  as  to  leave  the  phari- 
sees far  out  of  sight,  and  to  actuate  a  large  class  in  socie- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  279 

ty,  anomalous  in  character  and  degraded  in  life,  with  which 
neither  church  nor  state  knows  what  to  do. 

It  is  very  evident  that  there  is  nothing  exaggerated  in 
the  preceding  delineation  of  society,  taken  from  the  scrip- 
tural pages.  The  principles  are  all  plain  and  simple  ;  car- 
rying their  own  evidence  along  with  them,  and  commend- 
ing themselves  to  every  man's  understanding.  They  are 
easily  enumerated. — Every  man  should  support  himself 
by  his  own  labor. — Every  man  should  support  his  own 
family  by  his  own  labor ;  or  every  family  should  have  in 
itself  the  means  of  its  own  support. — Every  poor  man,  who 
really  needs  assistance,  ought  to  have  it,  but  nothing  more ; 
i.  e.  he  must  labor  as  far  as  he  can. — Every  poor  man  who 
has  become  really  disqualified  to  labor,  should  be  sustained 
by  others. — This  assistance,  or  support,  must  be  derived  in 
the  most  private  and  considerate  manner;  so  that,  while 
the  poor  man's  physical  wants  are  supplied,  his  moral  charac- 
ter may  not  be  injured,  nor  his  moral  sense  be  impaired  ;  so 
that,  when  his  distress  may  have  passed  by,  he  may  resume 
his  own  labor  for  his  own  support. — This  assistance,  or  sup- 
port, should  be  extended  by  the  poor  man's  immediate  rela- 
tives, family  connexions,  or  personal  friends ;  or,  in  the  event 
of  their  incapacity,  by  his  neighborhood. — None  but  an  ex- 
treme case  indeed  ought  to  be  referred  to  the  church. 
Public  establishments,  set  up  by  law,  can  do  nothing  but 
mischief,  for  it  is  impossible  that  they  should  not,  sooner  or 
Jater,  and  to  the  whole  extent  of  their  means,  interfere  with 
all  the  principles  of  human  society. 

These  views,  which  commend  themselves  to  every  man, 
•are  in  actual  operation  now.  They  always  have  been,  and 
always  must  be,  in  operation.  And  up  to  this  point  many 
of  the  poor  do  help  themselves,  rise  above  their  difficulties, 
and  command  respect  and  confidence.  But  beyond  this 
point,  whenever  private  benevolence  becomes  indiscrimi- 
nate and  disregards  the  essential  principle  of  human  sub- 
sistence, and  public  charities  begin  to  display  them- 
selyes,  a  new  condition  of  society  supervenes ;  and  an  un- 


280  LECTURES  ON 

suspected  evil  is  betrayed,  which  quickly  demands  an  ex* 
tension  of  these  charities.  These  charities  are  extended, 
and  the  evil  soon  overtakes  and  goes  beyond  them,  and 
loudly  calls  for  more.  It  fastens  itself  on  the  body  politic, 
like  a  horse-leach,  crying,  give,  give.  Such  is  pauperism 
and  its  history. 

The  ancient  monastic  institutions,  says  Blackstone,  "  sup- 
ported and  fed  a  very  numerous  and  very  idle  poor,  whose 
sustenance  depended  on  what  was  daily  distributed  in  alms 
at  the  gates  of  the  religious  houses.  But,  upon  the  total 
dissolution  of  these,  the  inconvenience  of  thus  encourag- 
ing the  poor  in  habits  of  indolence  and  beggary,  was  quick- 
ly felt  throughout  the  kingdom ;  and  abundance  of  statutes 
were  made  in  the  reign  of  king  Henry  the  eighth,  for  pro- 
viding for  the  poor  and  impotent ;  which,  the  preambles  to 
some  of  them  recite,  had  of  late  years  strangely  increased."* 
Almshouses,,  hospitals,  parish  allowances  or  poor  rates,  fol- 
lowed ;  to  which  have  been  added  work-houses,  or  houses 
of  industry,  and  charitable  societies  Avithout  end. 

The  provisions  which  have  been  made  to  relieve  these 
hordes  of  paupers,  have  all  originated  in  the  most  benevo- 
lent feelings,  both  on  the  part  of  individuals,  and  on  that 
of  the  different  legislatures.  But  as  church  and  state  were 
blended  together,  the  ecclesiastical  ideas,  which  gave  rise 
to  the  monastic  institutions,  and  which  had  made  almsgiving 
a  very  important  item  in  preparation  for  heaven,  not  only 
pervaded  the  general  mind,  but  they  were  carried  into  the 
councils  of  the  nation.  Thus  that,  which  had  been  one  of 
the  very  worst  effects  of  the  monasteries,  was  reproduced 
by  the  royal  prerogative,  and  stalked  forth  in  giant  form  ; 
having  exchanged  its  ecclesiastical  habiliments  for  the  civi- 
lian's gown.  So  we  have  the  evil  now ;  and  perhaps  not 
altogether  divested  of  the  religious  sentiment,  which  the 
Caliph  Omar  Ebn  Abd'alaziz  has  so  forcefully  expressed— * 
"  Prayer  carries  us  half  way  to  God,  fasting  brings  us  to  the 
•  Com.  B.  1,  ch.  9. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  28l 

tloor  of  his  palace,  and  alms  procures  for  us  admission." 
After  all,  let  the  character  of  the  feeling,  in  which  these 
institutions  originated,  be  what  it  may,  yet  the  consequence 
has  been  most  disastrous  ;  not  only  to  society,  bat  \o  the 
poor  themselves.  A  few  extracts  may  confirm  our  state- 
ments. 

One  writer  remarks : — "  Since  the  poor  laws  were  esta- 
blished, however  humane  and  judicious  in  their  first  insti- 
tution, by  affording  a  certain  provision  for  infancy  and  age, 
we  find  pauperism  has  been  continually  increasing ;  and 
that,  with  growing  wealth,  the  laboring  poor  have  become 
more  and  more  numerous  and  depressed." 

Another  writer  observes — "  Those  most  impolitic  of  all 
impolitic  laws,  were  unquestionably  established  on  princi- 
ples, and  from  motives,  that  do  honor  to  the  feelings  of  the 
legislative  body  of  the  time  in  which  they  were  enacted. 
They  were  considered,  not  only  by  those  who  framed  and 
supported  them,  but  by  all  sensible  and  intelligent  people, 
as  the  wisest  and  most  philanthropic  of  human  institutions. 
They  had  for  their  chief  object  the  comfortable  sustenance 
of  those,  who,  feeble  through  age  or  misfortune,  were  ren- 
dered incapable  of  exerting  themselves  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  procure  by  labor  a  sufficient  supply  of  the  necessaries 
of  life,  and  that  by  means  the  most  rational ;  namely,  by 
compelling  those  who  possessed  none,  or  but  a  small  share, 
of  'the  milk  of  human  kindness,'  to  contribute  in  an  equal 
proportion  with  those,  who,  from  liberal  and  benevolent 
dispositions,  would  have  continued  to  do  so  without  legal 
compulsion.  It  was  expected  that  the  enacting  of  these 
iaws  would  have  had  the  effect  of  introducing  a  spirit  of 
industry  among  the  lower  ranks  ;  which,  while  it  tended  to 
render  the  operation  of  the  poor  laws  in  a  very  small  de- 
gree burthensome  to  the  wealthy  part  of  the  community, 
would  also  have  greatly  promoted  the  prosperity  of  the  na- 
tion. But  how  blind  is  human  foresight,  and  how  imper- 
fect all  human  institutions }  These  laws,  from  the  establish- 
24* 


282  LECTURES  ON 

ment  of  which  so  many  happy  effects  were  expected  to 
result,  have  tended  to  consequences  of  the  most  alarming 
nature ;  consequences  which,  if  effectual  measures  are 
not  speedily  taken  to  avert  them,  may,  and  probably  will, 
end  in  universal  ruin. 

"It  is  added,  that,  notwithstanding  the  enormous  assess- 
ments to  which  the  poor  laws  gave  rise,  they  are  by  no 
means  attended  with  the  advantages  which  were  expected. 
In  place  of  tending  to  improve  the  morals,  or  increase  the 
industry  of  the  poor,  they  have  had  quite  a  contrary  effect. 
It  was  but  a  short  time  after  the  enactment  of  these  laws, 
that  the  public  were  insulted  with  the  famous  song  of, 

'  Hang  sorrow,  cast  away  care, 
The  parish  is  bound  to  maintain  us.' 

And  how  much  this  sentiment  seems  to  be  impressed  on 
the  minds  of  the  generality  of  that  description  of  people, 
for  whose  benefit  these  laws  were  framed,  is  well  known  to 
all  who  live  under  their  influence.  They  require  not  to  be 
reminded  how  necessary  it  is  become  to  endeavor,  by  every 
possible  means,  to  curb  that  spirit  of  licentiousness,  which 
so  generally  reigns  within  the  walls  of  a  parish  workhouse, 
whence  shame,  honesty  and  pride,  seem  to  be  forever 
banished."* 

The  details  of  this  subject  are  to  the  last  degree  distress- 
ing and  frightful.  The  rapid  increase  of  the  number  of 
this  portion  of  the  population  ;  the  shame  and  infamy,  and 
disgrace,  which  their  crimes  necessarily  produce,  which  no 
extent  of  bounty  can  ever  relieve  ;  but  to  whose  progress, 
multiplied  and  misguided  charities,  both  individual  and 
public,  must,  and  constantly  do,  lend  accelerated  force, 
might  arouse  the  deepest  slumbers  of  the  community. 
The  statistics  of  this  onerous  system  have  been  often  pre- 
sented to  the  public,  without  producing  any  reformation, 
or  leaving  any  more  than  an  evanescent  impression. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  object  to  go  out  into  these  details. 

*  Rees'  Encyc.  Art.  Poor. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  283 

Though  they  belong  to  the  general  subject,  yet  I  am  look- 
ing forward  to  a  class  of  conclusions,  which  can  be  sus- 
tained without  such  troublesome  minuteness.  These  shall 
appear  in  their  time.  I  am,  at  present,  merely  preparing 
the  way  for  them. 

The  question  arises,  and  may  be  pressed  with  great  pro- 
priety and  force — how  is  society  to  be  extricated  from  this 
terrible  labyrinth  ?  And  certainly  the  answer  is  both  near 
and  distinct,  if  our  statements,  taken  from  the  scriptures, 
be  at  all  correct.  There  is  manifestly  neither  discretion  nor 
safety  in  going  on,  guided  by  the  ignis  fatuus  that  has  al- 
ready led  us  so  far  astray.  The  farther  we  go,  the  more 
rapidly  the  evil  will  grow,  and  the  farther  we  may  go. 
Every  additional  society,  intended  to  relieve  the  poor,  will 
injure  the  poor  themselves,  and  add  to  the  burthens  which 
are  declared  to  be  already  too  onerous.  To  stand  still,  if 
that  could  be  done,  would  be  to  leave  the  evil  as  we  find 
it ;  and  yet  the  evil  could  not  remain  stationary,  because  it 
has  its  own  principle  of  amplification,  which  would  ulti- 
mately carry  us  along  with  it.  The  evil  itself  must  be  as- 
sailed— effectually  and  successfully,  and  society  be  brought 
back  under  the  force  of  scriptural  laws.  No  other  remedy 
remains.     But  how  is  that  to  be  done  ? 

In  attempting  to  answer  a  question  of  this  kind,  it  is  in- 
dispensably necessary  to  ascertain  the  precise  object  in 
view.  All  the  facts  in  the  case  serve  to  show  that  the  poor 
themselves  have  become  degraded  ;  their  conscious  feel- 
ing of  individuality  is  vitiated  or  impaired,  or  their  moral 
sense  is  deadened.  The  great  re  me  dy  is  a  regeneration,  or 
a  reviving  of  the  moral  sense.  There  is,  therefore,  in  the 
political  object  to  be  achieved,  something  analogous  to  that 
which  the  great  Redeemer  himself  is  aiming  to  effect ;  and 
the  principles  on  which  he  calculates  as  remedial,  are 
those  on  which  the  operation  in  view  must  rely.  His  grand 
design  is  to  brina;  information,  varied  and  extensive — fur- 
nishing  accurate  views  of  our  moral  condition,  to  bear  up- 


284  LECTURES  ON 

on  the  human  mind.  At  one  time  he  established  a  great 
variety  of  symbolic  institutions,  and  sent  prophet  after 
prophet  to  enforce  and  illustrate  them.  At  another,  he  af- 
fords his  bible,  and  organizes  society  under  the  inspection 
and  sympathy  of  numerous  ministerial  helps.  He  makes 
every  man  a  moral  monitor  to  every  other  man ;  and  calls 
upon  all,  by  the  light  of  the  good  works  they  behold,  to 
forsake  sin  and  turn  to  his  commandments.  He  thus  pre- 
serves the  whole  subject  of  morals,  fairly  and  constantly 
before  our  eyes ;  and  presides,  by  his  Spirit,  and  in  love, 
over  the  whole  train  of  instruction  thus  imparted  to  us. 
By  argument,  by  appeal,  by  entreaty,  light  is  brought  into 
the  understanding,  and  impressions  are  left  upon  the  heart. 
His  kingdom  is  thus  set  up  within  us,  and  the  sinner,  learn- 
ing to  act  from  established  principles  and  rectified  views, 
acts  correctly ;  and  attains  to  those  heavenly  associations, 
whose  members  have  all  pure  personal  characters. 

A  like  operation  I  would  commend  in  the  present  case ; 
and  on  the  ground  that  it  will  be  found  as  effectual  as  it  is 
consistent,  and  as  practicable  as  it  is  unequivocal.  The 
poor  must  be  enlightened,  that  they  may  be  able  to  look  at 
their  own  condition  through  another  and  abetter  medium; 
that  they  may  acquire  higher  motives  and  more  enlarged 
views ;  and  that  they  may  learn  to  multiply  their  own  internal 
resources,  and  cherish  feelings  which  will  be  utterly  irre- 
concilable with  their  present  degradation.  The  community 
may  then  repose  confidence  in  all ;  as  they  can,  and  do  now, 
in  the  better  classes  of  the  poor,  whose  views  and  feelings 
have  not  fallen  below  the  consideration  of  personal  indi- 
viduality. Education  is  by  far  too  expensive,  and  the  poor 
feel  it  to  be  out  of  their  reach.  An  inequality  is  thus 
created;  and  those  who  cannot  enjoy  early  tuition,  expend 
their  minds  on  such  objects  as  they  meet ;  often  reaching 
the  extreme  of  vice,  before  they  have  known  any  thing  of 
its  enormity.  Here  then  the  remedial  operation  must 
commence;  and  as  it  proceeds,  carrying  light  and  liberty 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  £83 

and  love  along  with  it,  a  regenerating  influence  will  be 
felt,  which  will  ultimately  redeem  the  whole  class  from 
infamy  and  distress.  To  the  accomplishment  of  this  ob- 
ject all  the  energies  of  the  state,  urged  on  by  the  wise  and 
good,  should  be  unweariedly  directed ;  the  consequences 
will  repay  them  for  their  anxiety  and  toil,  and  rid  them  of 
an  evil  which  has  long  been  a  political  opprobrium. 

I  speak  not  of  pauper  schools,  erected  either  by  public 
charities,  or  by  religious  sectaries,  or  by  the  legacies  of 
the  rich.  These  I  have  ever  considered  to  be  of  most 
hurtful  tendency ;  though  perhaps  they  may  be  the  best 
form  in  which  a  mere  gratuity  can  be  conferred.  But  still 
such  institutions  treat  the  poor  as  paupers ;  and  do  not  fair- 
ly identify  their  children  as  an  integral  part  of  the  commu- 
nity. On  the  contrary  j  their  children  grow  up  with  the 
very  associations,  with  the  very  habits  of  thought  and 
feeling,  which  the  remedy  proposed  intends  effectually  to 
destroy.  They  who  get  their  education  as  a  gratuity,  have 
only  to  take  one  step  farther,  and  ask  a  support  as  a  gratu- 
ity. Lessons  of  independence  cannot  be  taught,  without 
disgusting  the  pupil  with  the  very  institution  from  which 
they  proceed ;  or,  without  disclosing  to  the  child  the  pa- 
rent's shame,  betrayed  by  the  very  act  of  sending  him  to 
school.  The  influence  of  the  higher  classes  is  not  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  poor,  in  a  manner  calculated  to  elevate 
them,  or  to  cherish  loftiness  of  sentiment ;  but  rather  the 
distinction  is  made  wider,  and  a  depressing  influence  is 
exerted;  while  those  sympathies  of  life  are  withheld, 
which  can  be  enjoyed  only  by  a  living  intercourse.  The 
Redeemer,  carrying  out  his  regenerating  plan,  allows  us 
the  most  intimate  fellowship  with  himself,  and  sends  his 
Spirit  to  dwell  in  our  bosom.  The  very  idea  of  commu- 
nion with  him  is  calculated  to  elevate  our  thoughts,  and  to 
inspire  us  with  lofty  purposes  and  feelings.  And  in  the 
secondary  operation  I  am  recommending,  access  to  the 
higher  classes,  familiarity  with  them,   the  experience  of 


283  LECTURES  ON 

their  kindness,  and  the  sight  of  their  smiles,  would  have 
the  happiest  effect  upon  the  poor — both  old  and  young. 
Pauper  schools  afford  no  opportunity  for  such  communion, 
and  leave  no  room  for  so  fine  a  display  of  humanity. 
Moses  secured  all  this,  by  his  regulation  of  the  various 
festivals  which  he  enjoined ;  and  by  the  liberty  which  he 
awarded  to  the  poor,  to  go  and  glean  in  the  fields  of  the 
rich.  On  no  occasion  ought  the  rich  more  distinctly  to 
recollect  the  reason  why  Moses  did  this,  than  on  the  estab- 
lishment of  schools.     The  poor  man  is  thy  brother. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  observe,  that  in  the  higher 
remedial  plan,  which  is  carried  out  under  the  superinten- 
dence of  Jehovah,  he  is  fully  and  accurately  informed  on 
the  whole  subject  with  which  his  agency  interferes.  In  like 
manner  they  who  would  engage  in  the  benevolent  enter- 
prise of  lifting  the  poor  from  their  degradation,  ought  care- 
fully to  investigate  the  subject  they  seek  to  relieve.  But 
unfortunately  it  happens,  that  they  who  give  are  as  little 
aware  of  the  consequences  of  giving,  as  they  who  receive. 
The  community  themselves  do  not  understand  the  princi- 
ples of  pauperism.  They  see  the  evil  only  partially.  They 
think  it  to  be  within  the  compass  of  their  individual  or  so- 
cial gratuities ;  and  are  grievously  disappointed,  when 
they  find  that  their  benevolent  design  has  been  frustrated. 
They  search  a  little  way  for  the  cause;  and,  finding  some- 
thing which  seems  to  be  sufficient  to  produce  the  evil,  they 
inveigh  against  the  insidious  agent  they  have  detected; 
and  so  leave  the  whole  matter  until  a  periodical  excitement 
again  occurs,  which  again  calls  forth  their  unavailing  com- 
plaints; and  seeing  no  alternative  but  gratuity  or  starva- 
tion, their  own  feelings  impel  them  still  to  give. 

How  often  has  intemperance,  for  example,  been  declared 
to  be  the  cause  of  pauperism ;  and  no  doubt  in  a  multitude 
of  instances  it  has  been  the  fell  destroyer.  But  if  there  was 
no  intemperance,  there  are  other  causes  which  would 
produce  the  whole  evil.     Pauperism  may  lead  to  intern- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  -     287 

perance,   as  well  as  that  intemperance  may  lead  to  pau- 
perism. 

How  often  has  pauperism  been  ascribed  to  bad  and  op- 
pressive government;  and  a  bad  government  is  certainly 
one  of  the  greatest  of  human  calamities.  But  pauperism 
may  be  engendered  under  any  form  of  government;  and 
certainly  will  follow  a  system  of  legislation  which  enacts 
a  code  of  poor  laws.  It  has  its  own  resources,  and  is  char- 
acterized by  its  own  attributes,  which  may  be  fully  dis- 
played independently  of  government. 

Those  principles,  which  are  inherent  in  the  subject, 
whatever  they  may  be,  should  be  fairly  and  fully  canvass- 
ed, until  both  the  rich  and  poor  should  understand  them : 
or  any  effort  which  may  be  made  to  eradicate  the  evil, 
would  be  continually  counteracted  and  thwarted ;  and  the 
benevolent  would  again,  as  they  did  after  the  destruction 
of  the  monastic  institutions,  seek  the  coercion  of  law,  to 
compel  others  to  assist  in  bearing  the  burdens  they  had 
created.  And  we  conceive  that  there  is  nothing  which 
ought  to  be  more  distinctly  impressed  on  the  public  mind, 
than  this  matter  of  general  education;  and  not  education, 
simply  considered,  but  extended,  as  it  ought  to  be,  in  an 
honorable  manner ;  so  as  to  secure  both  the  intellectual 
and  moral  elevation  of  all  classes.  Again  we  repeat  the 
important  lesson  which  Moses  taught — The  poor  man  is 
thy  brother. 

Such  a  system  of  education — by  its  general  character,  as 
well  as  by  the  associations  or  intercourse  it  should  create 
among  the  different  classes  of  society — would  carry  amoral 
influence  along  with  it,  and  to  the  whole  extent  of  xpauper- 
ism.  The  Mediator,  in  seeking  the  moral  reformation  of 
our  race  through  the  medium  of  instruction,  sustains  an 
operation  of  love  ;  nor  is  there  any  truth  which  he  more 
intensely  labors  to  impress  upon  the  human  mind,  than  this 
very  fact — that  God  is  good,  and  really  desires  to  promote 
our  present  and  everlasting  welfare.     Such  should  be  the 


£88  LECTURES  ON 

character  of  the  enterprise  now  suggested.  The  greatest 
benefit  which  can  be  conferred  on  a  human  being,  is  to  fur- 
nish him,  in  an  honorable  manner,  with  the  means  of  intel- 
lectual cultivation.  It  will  be  received  as  an  inestimable  boon; 
as  the  strongest  expression  of  kindness  which  could  be  af- 
forded, and  as  the  certain  means  of  attaining  whatever-  is 
within  the  reach  of  human  effort.  He  who  engages  in  the 
undertaking,  feels  that  he  is  aiming  at  a  magnificent  ob- 
ject, which  will  absorb  his  best  affections,  and  carry  a  puri- 
fying influence  to  his  own  bosom.  There  is  something  in 
the  very  nature  of  the  operation,  which  necessarily  assimi- 
lates it  to  the  evangelical  purposes  of  Jehovah ;  so  that, 
when  it  is  fairly  tried,  it  quickly  develops,  as  wrapped  up 
within  itself,  the  principles  of  its  own  execution.  It  has 
a  thousand  adjuvants,  which  are  immediately  called  to  its 
aid ;  and  there  are  a  thousand  unfavorable  circumstances) 
which  it  readily  controls,  or  quickly  removes.  Instead  of 
restraining  the  poor  by  the  presence  of  power,  it  animates 
them  by  the  demonstration  of  love.  It  substitutes  kind- 
ness for  whins  and  scorpions,  and  the  excitements  of  hope 
for  the  shiveiings  of  fear.  It  represses  trains  of  suspicions 
and  jealousies,  and  promotes  a  reciprocal  confidence.  It 
elicits  whatever  is  good,  and  restrains  the  jarring  passions 
of  human  nature,  which  are  ever  ready  to  run  into  the  ex- 
treme of  licentiousness,  under  the  influence  of  the  most 
vulgar  and  grovelling  temptations.  In  short,  such  a  general 
system  of  education  confirms  the  various  ties  of  life, 
mingles  heart  with  heart,  and  identifies  the  whole  of  society 
in  the  pursuit  of  common  objects,  and  the  enjoyment  of 
common  interests.  All  the  better  classes  of  society,  by 
their  mutual  respect  and  their  harmonious  operation,  de- 
monstrate the  truth  of  our  remarks  ;  and  the  poor,  brought 
under  the  same  influences,  would  stand  regenerated  before 
us,  fitted  for  the  noblest  deeds,  and  stimulated  by  the  purest 
feelings.  Whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  frowns  and  penal- 
ties, which  remove  them  to  a  distance,  degraded  by  igno- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  289 

ranee,  and  wretched  through  apprehension,  destroy  every 
thing  that  is  noble  in  their  nature,  and  force  them  to  nurse 
their  evil  passions  in  their  own  defence.  The  most  impol- 
itic of  all  political  measures,  is  to  throw  off  the  poor  from 
our  hearts  and  leave  them  to  vegetate  unregarded  ;  or  to  feed 
them  upon  chanty,  and  punish  them  by  law.  They  occupy 
a  higher  place  in  the  scale  of  being,  and  are  entitled  to 
more  dignified  consideration. 

But,  if  I  mistake  not,  society  will  throw  many  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  such  a  project.     They  will  apprehend  that 
it  must  necessarily  lead  to  an  indiscriminate  intercourse  be- 
tween the  children  of  the  rich  and  those  of  the  poor ;  and 
that  the  tendency  of  such  intercourse  will  be  to  corrupt 
the  children  of  the  better  classes,  by  teaching  them  vulgar 
and  profane  habits.     Such  an  objection  must  necessarily 
have  great  weight,  as  far  as  it  is  believed  to  be  true.     But 
the  question  is,  is  it  true  ?     I  apprehend  that  it  is  not. — 
Somehow,  in  reasoning  on  morals,  a  tendency  to  evil,  sure 
and  uniform,  is  ever  suspected  to  be  the  single  characteris- 
tic of  mankind.     A  tendency  to  good  is  seldom  supposed  ; 
or  if  it  is  presumed  to  exist,  the  reasonerwho  advances  the 
idea,  is  heavily  accused  as  heretical,  or  laughed  at  as  chi- 
merical.    And  yet  Jehovah  himself  describes  our  condi- 
tion as  an  intermixture  of  good  and  evil ;  and  has  establish- 
ed all  his  operations,  as  a  reformer  among  men,  upon  that 
tendency  to  good.     On  this  tendency  he  calculates  in  pre- 
senting truth  to  their  minds,  and  seeks  to  rouse  them  to 
moral  action.     His  remedial  interference  is  neither  harsh 
nor  violent ;  he  seeks  not  by  omnipotence  to  coerce,  but  by 
conviction  to  persuade,  or  by  love  to  attract ;  and  he  calls 
upon  us  to  imitate  his  example.     Christians  are  the  lio-ht 
of  the  world,  illumining  the   darkness  around  them  ;  and 
the  salt  of  the  earth,  communicating  their  own  properties 
for  the  purificiflion  and  preservation  of  others.     Nor  is  the 
expectation  vain  ;  for  the  lower  are  ever  copying  the  higher 
classes    in   manners,   dress,    language,    and    a  thousand 
Vol.  II.— 25 


590  LECTURES  ON 

other  things,  which  make  up  the  minutiae  of  life.  In  the 
project  contemplated,  it  will  be  well  if  the  result  be  not  the 
reverse  of  that  which  the  objection  urges,  and  if  the  chil- 
dren of  the  rich  do  not  corrupt  those  of  the  poor.  Many 
a  lesson  of  false  pride,  unprofitable  and  injurious,  may  be 
secretly  insinuated  ;  and  habits,  both  of  thought  and  feeling, 
may  be  most  insidiously  formed,  before  the  innovation  may 
be  suspected,  or  shall  have  attracted  any  notice.  But  the 
truth  is,  from  an  individual's  own  heart  down  through  all 
the  forms  and  circumstances  of  life,  every  thing  requires 
vigilance,  because  every  thing  may  be  mismanaged.  It  be- 
longs not  to  man  to  say — Let  it  be.  Every  object  is  to  be 
obtained  by  effort ;  and  the  education  of  the  young  is  not 
to  be  effected  by  magic,  nor  by  an  overweening  confidence 
which  shall  relieve  the  parent  from  watchfulness  and  cau- 
tion. I  recommend  no  project  of  spontaneous  growth,  whose 
practical  operations  require  no  providential  care.  Chris- 
tianity itself,  devised  by  infinite  wisdom,  requires  the  super- 
intendence, kind  and  forbearing,  of  him  who  framed  it. 

If,  however,  the  pride  of  wealth  and  of  family  distinc- 
tion, must  still  be  arrayed  against  the  philosophy  of  life  and 
its  social  relations ;  if  the  rich  cannot  consent  to  identify 
themselves  with  the  poor,  so  far  as  to  carry  a  moral  and  re- 
forming influence  into  the  whole  field  of  pauper  wretched- 
ness ;  if,  in  spite  of  our  strong  republican  asseverations, 
with  which  we  are  rendered  familiar  from  childhood  itself, 
an  aristocracy,  disregarding  the  morality  of  benevolence, 
must  be  maintained  ;  if  the  division  of  mankind  into  classes 
by  artificial  lines,  must  still  be  held  as  natural  and  sacred  ; 
and  if  the  various  ideas  to  which  that  division  has  given 
rise  must  be  pronounced  orthodox  and  wise,  without  refer- 
ence to  those  moral  laws  which  bind  man  to  man,  whatever 
may  be  the  difference  of  external  circumstances  ;  then  the 
alternative  remains — charity  or  starvation.  They  who  have 
hitherto  given,  must  go  on  to  give.  The  evil  they  deplore 
will  continue  to  grow  ;  and  all  the  facilities  and  advantages 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  291 

which  our  fine  country  affords,  will  not  save  us  from  the 
convulsions  which  must  ensue,  and  which  the  voice  of  all 
experience  has  proclaimed  in  the  clearest  and  most  une- 
quivocal manner.  The  only  effectual  remedy  that  exists,  is 
to  be  found  in  reviving  the  moral  sense  of  those  who  have 
sunk  into  such  great  degradation.  Abandon  all  thoughts 
of  this  only  remedy,  and  we  may  as  well  expect  to  carry 
sinners  to  heaven  without  regeneration,  as  to  accomplish 
any  permanent  benefit  for  the  poor,  or  cure  the  evils  of 
which  we  complain. 

This  system  of  general  education  is,  however,  not  the 
only  measure  to  be  adopted,  in  view  of  the  painful  and  af- 
flicting subject  before  us.  Our  charities  must  be  reviewed  ; 
for  though  they  express  great  benevolence,  they  are  yet 
most  improperly  bestowed;  and  while  they  professedly  seek 
to  relieve  the  poor,  they  are  actually  degrading  them  more 
and  more.  Mere  gratuities,  extended  to  any  one  able  to 
provide  for  himself,  are  to  that  individual  a  positive  injury. 
They  contravene  the  great  law  which  God  has  established; 
namely,  that  man  must  gain  subsistence  by  labor.  And  that 
law  can  no  more  be  safely  set  aside,  than  any  other  law  which 
has  been  enacted.  Suspend  the  law  of  gravitation,  blot  the 
sun  from  the  firmament,  or  withhold  the  rain,  and  no  sub- 
stitute can  be  devised  by  which  their  effects  can  be  pro- 
duced. Banish  love  to  God  and  love  to  man  from  a  human 
heart,  and  that  heart  must  necessarily  become  depraved  and 
vicious.  No  more  can  the  means  of  subsistence  be  pro- 
duced without  labor.  Mere  dependent  poverty,  where  a 
man  can  help  himself,  is  therefore  directly  in  the  face  of 
divine  law,  and  is  both  criminal  and  disgraceful.  Under 
such  circumstances,  both  he  who  gives  and  he  who  receives 
are  alike  in  fault ;  and  make  an  inroad  upon  the  well-being 
of  society,  which  needs  only  to  be  amplified,  and  pauper- 
ism is  produced  in  full  size.  There  is  no  escape  from  this 
statement.  It  is  necessarily  true — the  effect  follows  its 
cause  most  exactly  and  philosophically. 


592  LECTURES  ON 

It  is  conceded  that  the  poor  we  must  always  have  with 
us  ;  and  that  they  are  entitled  to  the  most  tender  consider- 
ation. There  are  the  aged  and  infirm,  the  lame  and  blind, 
&c.  &c.  who  are  not  able  to  help  themselves,  and  who  ought 
to  be  supported.  Oftentimes  a  poor  man  is  overtaken  by 
an  emergency,  which  he  did  not  foresee,  and  which  he 
could  not  prevent;  a  little  assistance  would  immediately 
relieve  him,  and  enable  him  to  rise  above  his  difficulty. — 
That  assistance  should  be  cheerfully  extended  to  him. 
"  Thou  shalt  open  thine  hand  wide,"  said  Moses,  "unto 
him,  and  shalt  surely  lend  him  sufficient  for  his  need,  in 
that  which  he  wanteth."  Every  one  will  often  find  him- 
self under  circumstances,  where  he  must  act  the  kind  al- 
moner to  the  needy,  and  God  will  bless  him  in  his  deed : 
for  "  he  who  giveth  to  the  poor,  lendeth  to  the  Lord." 

But  then  the  question  arises,  how  shall  these  charities  be 
extended  ?  The  Redeemer  considered  the  pharisees,  as 
has  already  been  intimated,  to  have  interpreted  the  law 
falsely,  when  they  excused  a  son  from  the  duty  of  support- 
ing his  father  or  mother,  on  the  plea  that  he  had  presented 
as  a  gift  that  portion  of  his  property  which  he  ought  to  have 
devoted  to  their  use.  Paul  says — "  if  any  widow  have  chil- 
dren or  nephews,  let  them  learn  first  to  show  piety  at  home, 
and  to  requite  their  parents  ;  for  that  is  good  and  accepta- 
ble in  the  sight  of  God."  And  again — "if  any  man  or 
woman  that  believeth  have  widows,  let  them  relieve  them, 
and  let  not  the  church*  be  charged.  According  to  these 
regulations,  enacted  by  inspired  wisdom,  and  enforced  by 
scriptural  authority,  charity  would  be  purely  an  individual 
matter,  and  should  be  confined  to  the  circle  of  family  rela- 
tives. 

We  should  almost  be  afraid  to  originate  such  a  mode  of 
relief.     But  as  the  scriptures  have  so  distinctly  stated  it,  we 

*  Agreeably  to  my  ideas  of  the  church,  as  made  up  of  christian 
or  many  nations,  I  would  consider  the  apostle  to  use  that  term  in  the 
text  quoted,  as  we  would  use  the  word  public. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  293 

may  venture  to  remark  upon  its  simplicity ;  and  to  assert, 
that  had  it  been  faithfully  employed,  society  would  be  vast- 
ly more  moral  and  benevolent  than  she  is  at  this  hour. — 
Writers  on  political  economy,  when  they  speak  on  this 
branch  of  their  science,  frequently  refer  to  Scotland,  and 
note  the  happy  operation  of  these  scriptural  rules  in  that 
country. — "Few,"  it  is  said,  "but  such  as  are  destitute  of 
relations  able  to  support  them,  make  the  application  for 
public  charity :  it  being  considered  disgraceful,  both  to 
themselves  and  their  relations,  to  have  their  names  entered 
on  what  is  called  the  poo?%,s  root."  So  that,  though  these 
rules  come  under  the  form  of  apostolic  injunctions,  yet 
their  wisdom  is  demonstrated  by  experiment,  whenever 
they  have  been  tried.  And  every  one  will  readily  per- 
ceive that  there  is  no  danger  of  their  being  carried  to  any 
hurtful  extreme,  nor  of  their  ever  operating  as  a  bounty  on 
marriage,  and  a  spur  to  population. 

The  apostle  does  certainly  allude  to  eleemosynary  pro- 
visions made  by  the  church,  as  such;  and  the  office  of  dea- 
con was  created,  to  take  charge,  with  other  temporalities,  of 
the  church's  alms.  But  observe  how  Paul  limits  and 
guards  the  whole  matter. — "Honor  them,"  he  says,  "that 
are  widows  indeed — let  not  a  widow  be  taken  into  the 
number,  under  three  score  years  old" — let  nephews  and 
children,  let  any  man  or  woman  that  believeth,  relieve 
their  own  widows  and  not  suffer  them  to  be  thrown  upon 
the  church  fund.  At  the  same  time,  and  alongside  of  these 
very  restrictions,  he  remarks  that,  "if  any  provide  not  for 
his  own,  and  especially  for  those  of  his  own  house,  he 
hath  denied  the  faith  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel;"  the 
worst  species  of  immorality  must  follow ;  the  renunciation 
of  Christianity  itself  will  ensue.  But  guarded  by  such 
rules  as  have  been  quoted,  the  social  charity  can  do  no 
harm.  In  fact,  it  is  in  consequence  of  disregarding  these 
restrictions,  which  have  been  either  forgotten  or  misunder- 
stood, that  this  very  provision,  made  for  "widows  indeed," 
25* 


294  LECTURES  ON 

has  become  the  embryo  of  all  out  public  charities.  The  rule, 
good  and  necessary  in  itself,  has  been  carried  beyond  its 
own  limits ;  and  the  abuses,  endless  in  variety  and  fearful 
in  form,  have  followed.  The  brief  history  of  the  matter 
maybe  told  almost  in  a  sentence. — "  In  the  first  ages  of 
the  church,  the  bishop  had  immediate  charge  of  all  the  poor, 
both  sound  and  diseased ;  also  of  widows,  orphans,  strang- 
ers, &c.  When  the  churches  came  to  have  fixed  revenues 
allotted  them,  it  was  decreed  that,  at  least  one  fourth  part 
thereof  should  go  to  the  relief  of  the  poor ;  and  to  pro- 
vide for  them  the  more  commodiously,  divers  houses  of  char- 
ity were  built,  which  are  since  denominated  hospitals." 
Or,  to  view  the  subject  in  a  somewhat  more  advanced 
state,  as  Stuart  remarks  in  his  "historical  memoirs  of 
the  city  of  Armagh,"  and  when  writing  of  the  differ- 
ent orders  of  catholic  saints  in  Ireland,  where  pauper- 
ism puts  on  its  most  distressing  forms — "These  pious  men 
seem  to  have  been  bound  by  vows  to  cultivate  the  deserts 
in  which  they  lived,  for  the  use  of  the  poor.  Their  suc- 
cessors probably  gave  up  the  reclaimed  land  for  the  joint 
benefit  of  the  indigent.  Hence  we  find  so  many  commons 
in  the  neighborhood  of  ancient  monasteries." 

Such  is  the  simple  history  of  this  momentous  and  disas- 
trous matter.  In  other  words,  1.  The  bishops  either  as- 
sumed, or  had  imposed  upon  them,  the  charge  of  the  poor. 
Leaving  the  word  of  God  to  serve  tables,  these  official  men 
became  secular  in  their  views  and  habits ;  and  presented  in 
its  embryo  state  that  towering  system  of  corruptions,  which 
astounded,  distracted,  and  degraded  man,  and  of  which 
pauperism  in  its  general  view  is  only  a  part. 

2.  Fixed  revenues  were  substituted  for  free-will  offer- 
ings, and  the  philosophy  and  morality  of  benevolence  were 
merged  in  forced  and  unwise  provisions.  Bishops  became 
licentious  as  the  church  grew  rich ;  the  poor  sank  into  in- 
dolence and  vice  ;  the  moral  sense  was  deadened ;  society 
was  debased  and  loathsome,  for  the  very  fountains  were 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  295 

poisoned  and  all  the  steams  administered  a  deadly  draught  \ 
liberty  was  lost  when  intelligence  wTas  gone ;  the  bible  was 
surreptitiously  taken  from  the  altar;  and  the  "shadows, 
clouds  and  darkness"  of  the  middle  ages  rested  on  the  pa- 
trimony of  the  saints. 

3.  Almshouses  and  hospitals,  and  monasteries  were  erect- 
ed; the  poor  were  removed  from  the  fire-side  and  home  of 
family  connexions ;  a  new  class  of  human  beings,  technically 
called  paupers,  was  begotten;  while  those,  for  whom  the 
scriptures  legislated,  still  remained  to  be  provided  for  on 
better  principles.  These  institutions  were  established  for 
the  sake  of  convenience.  Bishops  and  their  hearers  sought  to 
climb  by  the  easiest  ascent  to  the  heights  of  heaven,  and  the 
attributes  of  individual  conscience  were  lost  in  a  palsying 
doctrine  of  sovereignty,  to  dispute  which,  even  at  the 
present  hour,  incurs  every  penalty  which  the  Vatican, 
either  papal  or  protestant,  has  power  to  impose.  The  an- 
nals of  pauperism  form  but  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  a 
series  of  causes  which,  in  producing  this  evil,  has  brought 
in  a  thousand  others. 

Thus  poor  rates  were  commenced,  and  almshouses  form- 
ed ;  and  they  have  been  perpetuated  under  the  same  false 
views  of  benevolence,  in  which  they  originated.  Their 
abandonment  is  indispensable  to  our  return  to  the  happier 
condition,  in  which  the  apostolic  regulations  should  have 
placed  us.  Corporate  bodies  in  the  state,  and  "voluntary 
associations"  in  the  church,  rest  on  the  same  principles ; 
and  equally  disregard  personal  responsibility  by  carrying 
social  law  too  far. 

The  Master  himself  has  sufficiently  exposed  the  whole 
evil.  The  pharisees,  in  his  day,  wTere  exceedingly  osten- 
tatious in  their  alms-giving.  They  sounded  a  trumpet  be- 
fore them,  in  the  synagogues  and  in  the  corner  of  the  streets, 
and  exposed  the  whole  matter  to  public  view.  Every  body 
knew  what  they  did ;  and  thus  in  the  very  act  of  giving, 
they  lowered  their  own  moral  character.     Public  charity 


296  LECTURES  ON 

degrades  the  benevolent  themselves.  The  Redeemer, 
therefore,  forbade  his  disciples  to  act  in  any  such  manner; 
and  laid  down  this  rule  for  their  regulation. — "Let  not  thy 
right  hand  know  what  thy  left  hand  doeth,  when  thou  doest 
alms."  Act  not  like  the  pharisees.  Never  bring  your  alms 
before  the  view  of  men  :  your  heavenly  Father  will  neither 
approve  nor  reward  the  deed  ;  but  let  them  always  be  be- 
stowed in  secret,  in  the  presence  of  your  heavenly  Father, 
who  seeth  in  secret,  and  will  reward  you  openly.  The 
reason  of  all  this  the  pharisees  themselves  made  manifest — 
the  duty  was  vitiated  in  their  hands  ;  their  deceitful  hearts 
obeyed  the  impulse  of  false  motives;  and  they  obtained, 
in  the  flattery  and  adulation  they  received,  all  the  reward 
they  sought.  And  if  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  re- 
ceive, then  how  shall  the  poor  fare  under  the  operation 
of  public  charity,  when  public  charity  degrades  even  the 
er. 

The  Redeemer  certainly  had  no  intention  to  lay  down  an 
arbitrary  statute,  without  having  a  sufficient  reason  to  en- 
force it.  He  thoroughly  understands  human  nature,  and 
has  no  need  that  any  should  tell  him  what  is  in  man.  He 
legislates  for  mankind,  according  to  their  own  nature^and 
capacities ;  ever  seeking  to  promote  their  welfare,  and  to 
protect  them  from  the  evils  that  are  incident  to  their  lot. — 
His  statute  in  the  present  case,  then,  is  founded  on  the 
principles  of  human  nature  ;  and  if  it  be  disregarded,  the 
worst  of  evils  must  follow.  Public  charities  can,  there- 
fore, do  nothing  but  harm,  however  they  may  be  modified  ; 
and  the  very  little  ways  that  the  apostle  himself  went,  in 
encroaching  upon  the  general  law,  and  which  he  did  from 
sheer  necessity,  he  seems  to  have  passed  with  a  fearful 
heart  and  a  trembling  step.  The  erection  of  houses  of  cha- 
rity was  a  bold  and  hazardous  adventure,  on  which,  from 
their  own  just  estimate  of  human  nature,  neither  he  nor 
his  Master  would  ever  have  entered.  That  was  left  for  the 
ecclesiastics  of  after  times ;  who,  misunderstanding  both 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  £9T 

human  nature  and  divine  law,  have  flooded  society  with 
inventions  of  their  own,  which  are  rife  to  this  hour,  and  as 
desolating  as  they  are  rife. 

There  is  another  objection  to  public  charities,  in  which 
they  seem,  under  another  form,  to  invade  nature's  laws, 
and  whose  force  we  see  no  way  of  evading.  They  appear 
to  be  increasing  the  means  of  subsistence,  without  actually 
doing  it.  The  means  of  subsistence  can  be  acquired  only 
by  labor.  Money  cannot  raise  them  ;  corn  will  not  grow 
in  the  rich  man's  coffers;  nor  can  the  treasury  of  a  nation 
produce  a  single  stalk  of  wheat.  Labor  alone  can  accom- 
plish the  growth  of  grain.  But  public  charities  bring  hordes 
of  consumers,  without  providing  any  additional  labor  to 
supply  the  increasing  exigencies.  As  a  natural  consequence, 
when  these  supernumeraries  are  driven  to  occasional  work, 
any  given  community  will  feel  that  there  is  an  apparent  in- 
crease of  laborers  beyond  the  demand ;  and  a  reaction,  of 
the  most  hurtful  kind,  is  carried  back  to  the  classes  of  the 
honest  and  habitual  laborers,  which  directly  interferes  with 
their  resources.  With  the  apparent  increase  of  labor,  there 
is  no  actual  increase  of  it.  Wages  of  course  fall ;  are 
not  always  punctually  paid ;  and  the  hours  of  work  are 
hurtfully  multiplied.  Then  the  public  charities  must  be  in- 
creased, for  the  poor  cannot  live  by  what  they  earn:  and 
as  rapidly  as  public  charity  grows,  the  evil  grows,  and  every 
new  society  adds  to  the  general  stock.  Hence,  in  large 
cities,  where  public  charities  are  always  most  munificent, 
the  operation  commences,  and  the  pauper  population  be- 
gins to  accumulate.  Public  beneficence  there  first  hangs 
out  her  signals ;  and  the  poor,  from  the  country  round,  feel 
actually  invited  to  come  and  partake  of  the  bounty. — If 
nature's  laws. are  thus  defied,  what  else  could  follow,  than 
the  very  consequence  that  has  been  realized?  The  evil 
has  been  the  legitimate  result  of  ecclesiastical  mistakes  and 
monastic  institutions. 

There  has  been  a  very  favorite  project,  which  looks  well, 


298  LECTURES  ON 

and  promises  fair;  in  which  the  benevolent  seem  prompt- 
ly to  engage,  and  by  which  they  calculate  to  do  much  good* 
— They  have  wished  to  erect  houses  of  industry  or  have 
framed  societies  to  find  work  for  the  poor.  We  could  heart- 
ily wish  success  to  the  plan,  if  it  were  not  that  the  pros- 
pects with  which  its  friends  are  flattered  are  utterly  delu- 
sive. It  has  not  been  left  to  this  age  to  conceive  or  exe- 
cute this  apparently  excellent  enterprise.  Public  charity 
has  long  since  tried  the  experiment.  The  statutes  which 
have  been  framed,  embraced  the  double  object  of  provid- 
ing for  the  impotent  poor,  and  finding  employment  for  those 
who  were  able  to  work.  Nor  only  so;  but  the  question  was 
agitated  whether  it  would  be  better  to  procure  "  stocks  to 
be  worked  up  at  home,"  or  to  "  accumulate  all  the  poor  in 
one  common  workhouse  ?" — The  latter  plan  has  been  ob- 
jected to,  as  "tending  to  destroy  all  domestic  connexions, 
the  only  felicity  of  the  honest  and  industrious  laborer  ;  and 
to  put  the  sober  and  diligent  \tpon  a  level,  in  point  of  their 
earnings,  with  those  who  are  dissolute  and  idle.*'*  This 
project  is  therefore  nothing  new,  but  has  already  been  fully 
tried,  and  has  contributed  all  its  influence  to  increase  the 
evil  it  was  intended  to  relieve. — Such  a  result  might  have 
been  expected ;  and  it  will  infallibly  occur.  The  reasons 
why,  or  some  of  them,  I  shall  proceed  to  state. 

It  is  very  evident  that  a  house  of  industry,  or  a  society 
finding  employment  for  the  poor,  still  dispenses  a  gratuity, 
and  a  public  gratuity.  The  name  has  been  changed,  but  the 
thing  itself  is  preserved.  Work  is  substituted  for  money  ; 
but  it  is  still  a  gratuity.  They  who  receive  work  on  these 
terms,  do  not  perceive  the  degradation  which  begins  so  in- 
sidiously ;  but,  having  learned  to  take  work  as  a  gratuity, 
the  very  next  step  is  to  take  money.  The  idle  will  turn 
away  from  the  overture,  and  the  corrupting  principle  ap- 
peals to  the  better  classes  of  the  poor;  so  that  by  begin- 
ning a  step  higher,  a  house  of  industry  becomes  a  nursery 
*Blackstone,  B,  1.  ch.  9, 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  299 

for  the  almshouse.  The  evil  is  the  same,  and  its  conse- 
quences the  same,  whether  the  process  commences  with 
work  or  money;  or,  if  there  be  any  difference,  the  first  is 
the  most  pernicious  of  the  two. 

The  agent  for  such  an  institution,  solicits  A,  B  and  C  to 
give  to  his  direction  whatever  work  they  have  to  put  out. 
A,  B  and  C  consent  to  the  proposition ;  and  so  far  as  it 
goes,  they  have  accepted  a  gratuity,  and  have  acted  on  the 
pauper  principle,  by  committing  to  a  trustee  that  which 
they  should  do  for  themselves.  But  a  still  worse  effect 
follows  ;  the  poor  are  by  this  means  removed  from  the 
sight  of  A,  B  and  C.  Intercourse  between  the  different 
classes  of  society,  of  which  there  is  by  far  too  little  already, 
is  thus  broken  up.  A,  B  and  C,  are  induced  to  believe 
that  the  poor  ave  well  provided  for,  and  never  feel  their 
sympathies  aroused  in  favor  of  those  whom  they  do  not  see  ; 
or,  while  the  evil  is  rapidly  growing,  that  share  of  moral 
influence  which  familiarity  would  exert,  is  withheld,  and 
the  poor  become  degraded  while  the  public  really  know 
nothing  about  it.  The  subject  sinks  from  public  notice  and 
public  thought ;  aiad  it  presently  becomes  exceedingly  pa- 
radoxical, that  charity  does  not  relieve  the  distressed. 

Besides  A,  B  and  C,  were  in  the  habit  of  giving  their 
work  to  others,  whom  they  knew  and  esteemed.  What 
will  become  of  their  poor  ?  These  must  either  go  to  the  pub- 
lic institution,  or  suffer.  Should  they  apply  to  the  society 
who  charitably  give  out  work,  they  meet  with  crowds  of 
competitors — for  such  a  society  will  always  have  more  ap- 
plicants thau  they  can  supply — and  are  probably  disap- 
pointed. Or  should  they  be  furnished  with  employment, 
they  must  execute  it  for  lower  wages  than  they  would  have 
obtained  from  A,  B  and  C,  because  they  must  assist  in  de- 
fraying the  expenses  of  the  society.  Perhaps  they  may 
be  too  sensitive  to  apply  at  all ;  and  then  the  institution 
has  simply  taken  bread  from  one  poor  individual  to  give  it 


% 
300  LECTURES  ON 

to  another.  A,  B  and  C,  never  learn  this  unexpected  re- 
sult, until  it  may  be  too  late  to  use  the  remedy. 

Farther. — The  institution  being  public,  the  poor  are  en- 
ticed from  the  surrounding  country,  and  more  laborers  are 
brought  into  the  community,  where  there  are  too  many  al- 
ready. Wages,  instead  of  being  increased,  are  diminished, 
and  the  charitable  are  called  upon  for  farther  assistance. — 
A  preference  will  be  given  to  such  an  establishment,  and 
the  honest  laborer  cannot  bear  up  under  the  competition. 
The  expenses  of  the  establishment  must  be  paid  ;  and  thus 
the  community  will  appear  to  be  more  charitable  than  they 
really  are.  It  was  not  intended  to  produce  these  evils,  for 
they  were  not  foreseen.  The  community  designed  to  be 
benevolent ;  but  deceived  by  fair  appearances,  they  never 
stopped  to  analyze  the  operation  in  which  they  so  prompt- 
ly engaged.  Good  intentions,  however,  never  raised  an 
ear  of  corn,  though  they  have  often  created  the  necessity 
that  it  should  be  done. 

With  a  view  to  eke  out  an  argument  in  favor  of  public 
charity,  it  may  possibly  be  urged  in  reply  to  the  preced- 
ing views,  that  the  apostle  Paul  directed  that  collections 
should  be  taken  up,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  in  the 
gentile  churches,  for  the  poor  saints  which  were  at  Jerusa- 
lem. The  fact  is  not  to  be  denied  ;  but  then  what  are  the 
connexions  of  the  fact?  The  passages  which  have  been 
quoted  from  his  epistles,  as  well  as  the  directions  given  by 
the  Master  himself,  are  evidently  general  rules.  Are  we  to 
suppose  that  the  apostle  laid  down,  or  re-enacted,  rules, 
which  he  never  intended  should  be  executed  ;  and  that 
personally  he  said  one  thing,  and  did  another  ?  Or  is  it  un- 
common, that  there  should  be  an  exception  to  a  general 
rule,  which  might  suspend  it  for  the  time  being,  without 
ultimately  setting  it  aside  ?  Such  cases  are  emergencies, 
which  must  provide  for  themselves.  A  famine  or  a  pesti- 
lence would  take  a  community  by  surprise  ;  and  more  par- 
ticularly the  poor  in  a  crowded  city. — The  case  would  ap- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  301 

pear  more  peculiar  still,  if  that  community  should  be  un- 
der foreign  domination ;  for  then  their  spirit  of  indepen- 
dence would  be  cowed  by  military  oppression,  and  their 
energies  would  be  paralyzed  by  unrighteous  exactions. 
Substitute  persecution  for  the  famine  or  pestilence,  and 
such  would  be  the  condition  of  the  poor  saints  at  Jerusa- 
lem. At  Jerusalem  their  Lord  had  been  crucified  ;  there 
some  of  their  brethren  had  been  martyred  ;  and  the  apostle 
himself  could  not  enter  the  city  witnout  personal  hazard. 
They  had  been  informed,  before  they  embraced  Christiani- 
ty, that  they  must  forsake  houses  and  lands  for  the  sake  of 
the  gospel;  and  they  are  represented  at  one  time,  as  being 
so  hard  pressed,  that  they  were  obliged  to  sell  all  they  had 
and  make  a  common  stock.  Such  a  case  must  suggest  its 
own  remedy.  A  general  law  would  yield  to  a  pressing  ne- 
cessity, as  when  David  ate  of  the  shew  bread,  or  the  dis- 
ciples plucked  the  ears  of  corn  on  the  sabbath  day.  But 
take  away  the  emergency,  and  the  general  rule  returns 
with  all  its  authority. 

But  this  case  deserves  to  be  more  closely  investigated. 
Its  circumstances  are  detailed  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.* 
The  public  collections,  which  were  required  and  made, 
are  referred  to  in  different  parts  of  the  new  testament.t 
But  the  biblical  student  knows,  that  the  community  of 
goods  was  established  in  Jerusalem,  and  nowhere  else ;  and 
that  the  public  collections  were  made  for  "  the  poor  saints 
at  Jerusalem,"  and  for  none  else.  He  also  knows  that  nei- 
ther was  called  for  by  a  divine  commandment ;  but  that,  on 
the  contrary,  any  divine  commandment  in  the  premises  was 
disavowed  by  the  apostles  themselves.  "  While  it  remain- 
ed," said  Peter  to  Ananias,  "was  it  not  thine  own?  and 
after  it  was  sold,  was  it  not  in  thine  own  power  ?"  And  Paul, 

*  See  ch.  ii.  44,  45.  iv,  32—37.  v.  1—16.  vi.  1—7. 
t  See  Acts  xi.  27—30.  xxiv.  17.  Rom.  xv.  25 — 27.    1  Cor.  xvi. 
1—4.     2  Cor.  vii.  1—24.  ix,  1—15,    Gal.  ii.  10. 

Vol.  II.— 26 


302  LECTURES  ON 

when  urging  the  Corinthians  to  be  ready  with  their  con- 
tribution, observes — "  I  speak  not  by  commandment — I 
give  my  advice."  Consequently  there  could  have  been 
no  intention  that,  either  the  community  of  goods  or  public 
collections  should  be  continued  in  the  church.  For  still 
farther  I  may  remark,  that  in  an  analogous  case,  when  no 
commandment  had  been  given,  and  where  Paul  gave  his 
advice,  he  explains  himself  as  referring  to  "  the  present  dis- 
tress ;"  and  declares  that  the  man  who  should  not  act. ac- 
cording to  his  advice  in  that  case,  would  not  sin*  If  there- 
fore, there  was  no  divine  commandment,  calling  for  the 
community  of  goods  at  Jerusalem,  or  for  the  public  collec- 
tions which  Paul  solicits,  even  at  the  time  when  these 
things  were  done  under  the  eye  of  the  apostles,  it  is  evi- 
dent there  can  be  no  divine  commandment  for  such  provi- 
sions now.  Yet  these  public  contributions  are  at  this  day 
supposed  to  be  matters  of  positive  duty. — It  is  a  mere  pa- 
pal commentary,  whose  sophistry  the  protestant  church  has 
not  detected. 

But  for  the  sake  of  the  subject,  it  may  not  be  unprofita- 
ble to  inquire,  why  "the  poor  saints  in  Jerusalem"  were 
excepted  ;  and,  without  a  divine  commandment,  made  the 
objects  of  such  anomalous  provisions  ?  And  I  may  answer 
— 1.  That  there  was  "  a  present  distress  ;"  and  that  very 
distress,  on  whose  account  Paul  exhorted  the  Corinthians, 
on  his  own  responsibility,  not  to  marry.  A  persecution 
was  about  to  be  kindled,  which  very  shortly  broke  out,  and 
which  would  rage  severely  at  Jerusalem.  That  devoted 
city  was  itself  to  be  besieged,  sacked  and  burnt ;  and 
the  Master  himself,  alluding  to  the  fearful  desolation,  said 
to  his  disciples — "Then  let  them  which  are  in  Judea  flee 
to  the  mountains ;  let  him  which  is  on  the  house  top  not 
come  down  to  take  any  thing  out  of  his  house  :  neither  let 
him  which  is  in  the  field  return  back  to  take  his  clothes. 
And  wo  to  them  that  are  with  child  ?  and  to  them  that  give 

*  1  Cor.  ch.  viii.'l 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  303 

suck  in  those  days  !  But  pra)>-  ye  that  your  flight  be  not  in 
the  winter,  neither  on  the  sabbath  day :  for  there  shall  be 
great  tribulation,  such  as  was  not  since  the  beginning  of  the 
world  to  this  time  ;  no,  nor  ever  shall  be."  Of  what  use 
was  private  property  under  such  circumstances  ?  The  dis- 
ciples at  Jerusalem,  were  in  fact  declaring  their  faith  in, 
and  ordering  their  conduct  by,  the  prophetic  declarations 
of  their  Lord  ;  and  their  situation  must  have  become  a  sub- 
ject of  universal  interest  throughout  the  christian  church. 
A  strong  case,  it  is  to  be  admitted.  There  has  been,  and 
there  shall  be,  said  the  Redeemer,  nothing  like  it. 

•2.  The  festivals  which  were  so  frequently  held  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  which  were  required  by  the  Mosaic  statutes, 
made  a  community  of  goods  necessary  for  the  time  being. 
The  hospitality  which  such  seasons  called  for,  would  na- 
turally present  such  a  scene  as  we  have  now  under  con- 
sideration. There  wTere  many,  from  different  countries, 
who  were  attached  to  the  christian  community,  as  was 
made  evident  when  the  gift  of  tongues  was  conferred  on 
the  apostles:  Barnabas  was  of  the  country  of  Cyprus:  and 
the  Grecians  murmured  against  the  Hebrews,  because  their 
widows  were  neglected  in  the  daily  ministration.  The  ha- 
bits of  the  je.;ish  nation  would  then  readily  suggest  the 
present  expedient  adopted  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  saints 
there  might,  as  they  did  in  many  other  instances  of  com- 
pliance with  Jewish  customs,  have  acted  out  of  forbearance; 
or,  as  even  the  question  of  the  admission  of  the  gentiles 
into  the  church  was  far  from  being  understood  by  them, 
they  might  have  done  what  they  did,  from  lack  of  better 
information. 

3.  The  Redeemer  commanded  his  disciples  to  begin  their 
official  career  at  Jerusalem,  Here  then  was  the  mother-church, 
so  to  speak ; — the  moral  centre  of  official  action  and  official 
reciprocities.  And  to  this  circumstance  Paul  seems  to  re- 
fer, when  he  remarks,  in  speaking  of  the  public  contributions 
made  for  "  the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem" — "  If  the  gentiles 


304  LECTURES  ON 

have  been  made  partakers  of  their  spiritual  things,  their 
duty  is  also  to  minister  unto  them  in  carnal  things."*  In 
the  beginning  of  society,  all  temporal  property  was  neces- 
sarily common.  Adam  and  his  sons,  Noah  and  his  sons, 
had  not  formed  the  idea  of  property  in  lands,  &c. — That 
idea  seems  to  have  been  introduced  very  late  into  society; 
for  the  next  view  on  the  subject  of  property,  in  her  subse- 
quent history,  was  that  the  king  was  the  proprietor  of  the 
land.  Hence  Pharaoh  gave  Goshen  to  the  family  of  Ja- 
cob :  hence  Joseph,  after  the  famine,  divided  the  whole 
country  afresh  ;  hence  the  God  of  Israel,  as  king,  claimed 
the  land  of  Judea  as  his  own  ;  and  as  king  of  all  the  earth, 
declares  that  the  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills  are  all  his  own — 
that  the  earth  is  his,  and  the  fulness  thereof.  It  is  not 
therefore  any  far-fetched  idea,  that  in  the  beginning  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  the  mother  church,  called  to  peculiar 
official  responsibilities,  and  in  the  land  of  Judea,  should 
give  up  to  the  divine  service,  that  portion  of  property 
which  the  service  called  for. 

4.  From  Jerusalem  it  might  be  expected  that  the  first 
preachers  of  the  gospel  would  go  forth.  The  gentiles 
were  not  acquainted  with  the  ceremonial  allusions  which 
were  to  be  explained,  nor  with  the  prophecies  which  were 
to  be  expounded,  as  forming  the  great  testimony  in  favor  of 
the  Messiah.  They  did  not  even  know  "the  sound  words" 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  had  taught,  and  which  Paul  thought 
to  be  so  important;  but  would  have  filled  the  church  with 
technical  terms,  derived  from  "philosophy  falsely  so  call- 
ed." The  multitude  of  believers  at  Jerusalem  appear  to 
have  been  poor,  while  not  many  wise,  nor  mighty,  nor  no- 
ble, were  ready  to  devote  themselves  to  ministerial  ser- 
vice ;  so  that  those  who  did  surrender  goods,  might  have 
done  it  in  view  of  the  ministry.  A  distinction  of  this 
kind  appears  to  be  necessary  to  explain  the  record ;  for 
we  are  told — "  Of  the  rest  durst  no  man  join  himself  to 

*  Rom.  xv.  27. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  305 

them*  but  the  people  magnified  them  ;  and  believers  were 
the  more  added  to  the  Lord,  multitudes  both  of  men  and 
Women."  In  this  statement  there  appears  to  be  a  palpa- 
ble contradiction,  which  is  only,  so  far  as  I  can  perceive, 
to  be  removed  by  some  such  distinction.  Barnabas  was  a 
Levite,  and  was  afterwards  earnestly  engaged  in  preaching 
the  gospel.  Ananias  might  have  been  of  priestly  relations, 
and  have  contemplated  the  same  official  employment  with 
Barnabas ;  for  which  purpose  he  might  have  joined  him- 
self, not  only  to  the  church,  but  to  the  apostles  as  an  offi- 
cial band. 

This  point  brings  up  many  interesting  particulars.  When 
the  young  ruler  wished  to  be  attached  to  the  little  compa- 
ny of  disciples  whom  the  Redeemer  had  chosen  and  or- 
dained, he  was  told  that,  to  accomplish  that  object,  he 
must  sell  all  that  he  had,  and  give  to  the  poor.  When  the 
disciples  observed  that  they  had  left  all,  they  were  inform- 
ed that  they  should  sit  on  twelve  thrones,  judging  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  because  they  had  followed  their 
Master  in  the  regeneration.  When  a  certain  individual, 
who,  it  would  seem,  had  no  qualifications  for  such  an  en- 
terprise, proffered  to  do  the  same  thing,  he  was  bidden  to 
go  home,  and  relate  to  his  family  what  great  things  the 
Lord  had  done  for  him.*  Nor  is  such  a  political  measure 
an  uncommon  one.  The  Levites  had  no  portion  nor  in- 
heritance among  their  brethren.  The  Lord  was  their  por- 
tion. Nay  beyond  this — originally  the  priesthood  belong- 
ed to  the  chief  ruler.  He  was  both  prince  and  priest ;  and 
when  the  two  offices  were  separated,  the  last  lost  not  its 
elevated  and  public  character,  nor  its  interest  in  the  pub- 
lic revenues.  Hence  the  priests  in  Egypt  were  sustain- 
ed by  Pharaoh,  and  Joseph  could  not  sell  their  lands.  So 
that  it  was  according  to  generally  established  law,  that  the 
provision  was  introduced  into  the  Mosaic  economy  ;  and 
the  Levites,  as  attendants  on  Jehovah  the  king  of  Israel, 

*  See  my  Essay  on  Creeds,  chap,  x, 
26* 


306  LECTURES  ON 

were  sustained  at  his  altars.  In  the  constitution  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  the  ministry  of  reconciliation  are  at- 
tendants on  Prince  Messiah  ;  and,  forsaking  all,  live  in  his 
courts.  They  administer  spiritual  things,  and  are  entitled 
to  carnal  things  in  recompense  for  their  labor.  This  for- 
saking, or  selling  all,  then  manifestly  belonged  to  official 
life — to  those  who  were  folio  wing  the  Master  uin  the  rea-ene- 

o  o 

ration  ;"  and  lays  no  sort  of  foundation  for  a  community 
of  goods  now  ;  nor  for  that  degrading  system  of  public 
charities,  derived  from  the  papal  church. 

In  truth  every  community,  whether  political,  ecclesiasti- 
cal, or  domestic,  must  sustain  its  own  public  servants.  The 
ministers  of  Christ  have,  with  few  exceptions,  depended, 
and  ought  to  have  depended,  on  the  reward  due  to  their 
labor ;  as  the  Levites,  with  like  exceptions — for  Barnabas 
had  lands,  and,  according  to  the  Mosaic  law,  a  Levite  might 
in  certain  cases,  redeem  land — as  the  Levites  had  done  be- 
fore them.  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire — thou  shalt 
not  muzzle  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn.  Many 
abuses,  it  is  true,  have  been  introduced,  which  the  revolu- 
tions of  society  have  not  yet  corrected.  The  abuse  of  a 
principle,  however,  is  no  argument  against  the  principle 
itself;  and  it  must  forever  remain,  at  least  while  God's 
o-overnment  and  human  nature  are  what  thev  are,  a  fair 
exchange,  that  the  church  should  give  carnal  for  spiritual 
things.  But  public  gratuities  are  as  degrading  as  they  are 
illegal. 

There  is  still  another  item  in  this  subject  of  public  chari- 
ty which  merits  very  serious  consideration.  The  apostle 
has  said,  "that  he  who  provides  not  for  his  own,  and  es- 
pecially for  those  of  his  own  house,  has  denied  the  faith, 
and  is  worse  than  an  infidel."  But  if  the  public  undertake 
to  provide  for  his  family,  why  should  he  trouble  himself 
about  the  matter?  Instead  of  the  moral  question  resting 
at  all  upon  his  conscience,  when  he  is  about  to  form  a 
family  connexion,  he  sees  no  evil  in  which  he  is  likely  to 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  307 

be  involved,  or  which  will  not,  he  calculates,  be  speedily 
relieved.  The  great  impulse  to  virtue  is  taken  away.  In 
Paul's  strong  language,  he  "  denies  the  faith,  and  is  worse 
than  an  infidel;"  or,  as  the  fact  continually  presents  itself, 
he  is  idle  and  intemperate,  profane  and  vicious;  and  not 
only  becomes  a  pauper  himself,  but  raises  up  a  race  who 
will  emulate  and  imitate  his  awful  example. — I  affect  not 
to  be  a  political  economist;  but  plainly  state  my  own  im- 
pression, long  since  formed,  and  every  day  confirmed;  and 
in  behalf  of  which  I  appeal  to  scripture,  nature,  and  his- 
tory. And  if  these  views  are  correct,  public  charity  is  the 
nurse  of  pauperism  :  and  while  the  nurse  lives  healthful 
and  vigorous,  the  child  will  thrive. 

As  has  already  been  intimated,  intemperance  has  been 
heavily  accused  as  the  prolific  cause  of  pauperism.  And 
most  assuredly  the  drunkard  is  in  a  fair  waj^  to  beggar  both 
himself  and  family.  But  then  on  the  other  hand,  pauper- 
ism ma}r  lead  to  intemperance  ;  for  if  public  charity  mav 
be  relied  on,  a  poor  man  is  tempted  to  be  idle,  or  to  spend 
his  earnings  in  riot  and  dissipation.  The  necessity  under 
which  the  divine  constitution  has  placed  him,  to  gain  his 
subsistence  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  is  in  a  great  measure 
removed ;  and,  losing  the  balance  which  moral  principle 
would  have  preserved,  he  learns  to  think  lightly  of  an  evil 
which  he  calculates  will  be  speedily  relieved.  The  statis- 
tics of  this  matter  are  fairly  petrifying.  But  I  feel  no 
great  necessity  to  furnish  them,  or  to  protract  the  argu- 
ment; because  the  subject  has  been  attracting  public  con- 
sideration for  many  years.  The  political  measure  of  im- 
posing a  tax  upon  whiskey,  and  a  project  to  plant  vine- 
yards in  our  country,  have  been  largely  and  variously 
discussed ;  so  that  it  were  impossible  that  the  information 
which  was  thus  spread  abroad,  should  not  produce  con- 
siderable excitement.  The  enormity  and  extent  of  the 
evil  were  thus  exposed  to  view,  and  the  habits  of  society 
have  been  consequently  very  much  changed. 


$>g  LECTURES  Off 

The  abandonment  of  public  charities  may  be  thought  far 
be  a  very  cruel  step.  And  so  it  would  be,  as  all  violent 
measures  necessarily  are,  if  it  be  suddenly  done.  The 
charitable  are  as  much  in  fault  as  the  poor  themselves,  and 
must  retrieve  their  own  errors  in  a  prudent  and  cautious 
manner.  But  it  is  presumed  the  object  is  not  impractica- 
ble. If  no  new  societies  should  be  encouraged  ;  if  those 
which  are  comparatively  new  should  be  dissolved  ;  and  if 
then  a  gradual  retrenchment  should  accompany  a  general 
system  of  education,  the  end  would  be  ultimately  attained. 
A  stopping  point  must  be  found  somewhere ;  and  that  may  as 
well  be  ascertained  by  retrograding  as  by  advancing.  Should 
the  community,  however,  be  incredulous,  or  give  up  the 
matter  in  despair,  they  must  only  remember  that,  in  all  the 
departments  of  nature,  violation  of  law  will  certainly  entail 
suffering ;  and  that  the  pauper  population  will  as  infallibly 
overtake  the  means  of  subsistence  afforded  by  charity,  as 
in  general  society  population  overtakes  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence derived  from  labor.  The  benevolent  cannot  alter 
the  course  of  nature,  or  correct  the  wisdom  and  mend  the 
philosophy  of  the  divine  institutions. 

To  remedy  the  evils  of  pauperism,  we  ought  still  to 
have  another  resource  on  which  to  rely.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  Jehovah  has  framed  a  system  for  the  moral 
reformation  of  mankind  at  large,  without  that  system  being 
capable  of  bearing  with  great  effect  on  our  present  subject; 
because  the  great  thing  needed,  in  relation  to  that  subject, 
is  moral  reformation.  The  additional  resource  should  then 
be  found  in  the  church,  which  God  has  made  the  light  of 
the  world — by  which  he  would  preach  the  gospel  to  all 
nations — to  every  creature.  And  it  would  seem,  from  the 
example  afforded  in  apostolic  times,  as  though  when  a 
great  and  good  revolution  was  intended,  it  should  com- 
mence with  the  poor.  The  wise,  and  mighty,  and  noble, 
have  all  that  they  desire  ;  and  are  apt  to  imagine,  from 
their  own  flourishing  condition,  that  things  are  right  just 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  309 

as  they  are ;  that  no  improvement  is  needed  ;  and  that  no 
change  would  be  for  the  better.  Men  in  power  seldom 
seek  or  wish  for  reform. 

But  when  we  turn  to  the  church,  any  calculation  in  re- 
ference to  the  matter  in  hand  seems  to  be  utterly  futile. 
There  are,  at  present,  such  various  and  incessant  calls  for 
money;  and  we  hear  so  much  of  education  societies,  pa- 
rental and  auxiliary;  of  gratuities  and  loans;  of  beneficia- 
ries and  scholarships;  of  bonds  redeemed,  and  bonds  re- 
mitted; that  instead  of  the  church  exerting  any  influence 
to  cure  the  evil  complained  of,  that  very  evil  has  become 
epidemic  in  her  own  precincts.  And  it  requires  very  little 
prescience  to  prognosticate  some  very  heavy  calamities  as 
near  at  hand — calamities  which  will  desecrate  the  pulpit 
by  degrading  the  ministry.  For  pauperism  will  run  a 
similar  course,  in  whatever  connexion  it  exists  ;  and  must 
necessarily  assail,  in  some  form,  the  integrity  of  those  who 
are  found  in  its  ranks.  The  analogy  is  too  striking  to  be 
disregarded ;  or  if  it  should  be  pertinaciously  defended,  it 
will  not  be  long  until  it  shall  have  worked  out  its  own  de- 
monstration. It  is  a  pity  that  honorable  young  men  should 
not  be  apprized  of  the  deleterious  tendency  of  public 
charities,  wherever  they  may  be  found;  and  that  they 
are  never  more  hurtful  than  when  they  come  under  guise 
of  promoting  the  Redeemer's  kingdom ;  because  then  the 
equivocal  character  of  the  means  is  forgotten  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  goodness  of  the  object.  Under  such 
circumstances,  an  ingenuous  youth  is  in  great  danger  of 
supposing  that  "the  end  sanctifies  the  means." 

Pauperism,  which  is  entirely  an  unnatural  state  of  so- 
ciety, originated,  as  has  been  seen,  in  regulations  intended 
to  direct  the  application  of  the  revenues  of  the  church. 
And  when  the  church,  as  such,  has  the  opportunity  of 
gathering  and  using  large  funds,  she  must  necessarily  un- 
dertake to  legislate  on  secular  principles.  Instead  of  wield- 
ing a  moral  influence  in  her  Master's  name,  and  under  her 


310  LECTURES  ON 

Master's  blessing,  she  has  superadded  something  to  the 
free-will  offerings  of  his  people,  and  becomes  distinguish- 
ed by  her  political  and  commercial  attributes.  She  must 
have  a  new  class  of  agents  and  a  new  class  of  dependants, 
because  she  has  a  new  class  of  objects.  And  it  would  not 
be  very  difficult  to  foretell  to  what  such  an  operation,  sus- 
tained by  the  strong  religious  feelings  of  mankind,  would 
grow ;  even  if  we  had  not  the  history  of  the  papal  hierar- 
chy, and  the  powerful  influence  of  ecclesiastical  policy  on 
the  general  principles  of  legislation,  to  forewarn  us.  The 
idea  of  a  church  becoming  rich  is  not  unpopular  in  our 
own  country,  notwithstanding  the  fearful  example  of  past 
ages.*  Yet  money  gives  power  to  ecclesiastics  as  well 
as  to  politicians ;  and  to  voluntary  associations  in  the 
church,  as  well  as  to  corporate  bodies  in  the  state.  Some 
alarm  has  been  felt,  but  that  is  laughed  at  as  a  mere  piece 
of  infidel  effrontery  or  folly ;  and  the  moral  irrelevancy  of 
such  means,  in  promoting  the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom,  is  not  suspected.  Amass  these  means,  and  re- 
form becomes  impossible ;  for  they  who  wield  them — at 
least  such  is  the  history  of  man — have  no  perception  that 
any  thing  is  wrong.  They  who  have  apprehended  evil,  feel 
that  they  can  scarcely  assail  the  colossal  power  without 
being  crushed  :  and,  becoming  too  timid  to  meet  the  dan- 
ger or  make  the  sacrifice,  they  cower  to  the  supposed  ne- 
cessity, and  call  it  expediency.  But  should  this  apparently 
useful  operation  be  encouraged,  or  should  the  events, 
which  are  now  transpiring  in  the  world,  and  have  given  to 
the  papal  power  so  fatal  a  blow,  not  arrest  it,  another  Hen- 
ry the  VIII.  may  be  needed  in  some  after  age,  to  cut  short 
the  wide  spreading  degeneracy.  Those  who  are  en- 
gaged in  this  matter,  have  no  intentions  which  deserve 
censure.  They  are  seeking  to  do  good,  but  they  have 
mistaken  the  means,  and  may  discover  their  error  when  it 
is  too  late.  Apprehended  contests  for  church  property, 
*JDeuteronomy  xvii.  17. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  31 1 

even  now,  may  impose  silence  upon  many  a  tongue ;  and 
a  civil  charter  creates  the  turning  point  of  argument.  The 
moral  character  of  the  church  is  suffering  much,  at  this 
hour,  from  her  secular  measures. 

The  ostensible  or  avowed  design  of  these  pecuniary 
provisions  is  to  supply  the  world  with  ministers  ;  and  hence 
they  are  expended  in  behalf  of  theological  seminaries, 
education  societies,  &c.  But  when  the  object  is  stated, 
another  evil  is  betrayed ;  for  the  population  is  seen  to  be 
increasing  far  beyond  the  means  of  furnishing  ministers. 
Yet  it  is  supposed  that  the  effort  is  as  great  as  can  be  made  ; 
and  though  it  is  demonstrably  insufficient,  it  will  still  be 
maintained  and  defended,  because  men  can  do  no  more 
than  they  can  do.  In  this  way  the  difficulty  is  kept  out 
of  sight,  discussion  is  prevented,  and  the  church  remains 
satisfied  with  her  own  unsatisfactory  measures.  Did  the 
Redeemer  or  his  disciples  adopt  such  a  course  ?  Did  they 
rear  such  institutions,  and  wait  on  the  proficiency  and  pro- 
mise of  annual  classes  of  students?  Did  they  project  a 
political  system  which  was  narrower  than  society  itself? 
and,  erecting  a  government  within  the  government,  did 
they  enact  a  code,  and  consecrate  official  men,  for  the  few 
who  were  personally  elected  unto  everlasting  life  ?  Or  were 
not  elders  ordained  in  every  city,  chosen  from  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  city  itself?  And  must  not  every  society  have 
within  itself  the  means  of  its  own  operation  ? 

I  am  aware  that  the  power  of  working  miracles  has 
been  urged  as  a  sufficient  explanation  of  the  rapid  manner 
in  which  the  churches  were  furnished  with  official  men : 
i.e.  this  power  was  a  substitute  for  literature  ;  and  now 
that  the  power  is  withdrawn,  nothing  but  literature  can 
qualify  a  man  for  ministerial  office.  Bat  this  argument 
grows  out  of  a  misconception  of  the  use  of  miracles. 
Adam  wrought  no  miracles,  neither  did  Noah  nor  Abra- 
ham. But  when  the  two  dispensations,  based  on  a  purpose 
of  election,  were  introduced,  that  election  was  so  far  out 


318  LECTURES  ON 

of  the  ordinary  operations  of  the  divine  government,  that 
special  proof  of  its  divine  origin  was  indispensably  necessa- 
ry. This  point  having  been  established,  the  power  of 
working  miracles  was  withdrawn ;  excepting  that  old  tes- 
tament prophets,  having  received  an  extraordinary  com- 
mission, were  under  a  similar  necessity  to  substantiate 
their  pretensions  by  like  proof.  Miracles  never  were  in- 
tended to  be  a  substitute  for  literature,  nor  to  have  any 
influence  in  determining  a  question,  like  that  which  is  now 
called  up.  The  Redeemer  carried  his  apostles  out  and  in 
with  him  during  the  whole  of  his  ministry,  notwithstand- 
ing his  intentions  to  endow  them  afterwards  with  such  pe- 
culiar gifts.  When  he  wished  to  instruct  the  gentiles,  he 
called  Paul  to  the  enterprise,  because  it  needed  high  intel- 
lectual character,  and  varied  literary  attainments,  Paul 
found  it  necessary  to  lower  the  estimate  in  which  the  pow- 
er of  working  miracles  was  held,  and  represented  the  con- 
stituent principles  of  human  nature,  and  the  ordinary 
moral  characteristics  of  society,  as  of  much  higher  con- 
sideration. He  would  rather  speak  five  words  with  his 
understanding,  that  he  might  teach  others,  than  ten  thou- 
sand words  in  an  unknown  tongue,  though  the  power  to 
do  so  would  have  commanded  great  admiration;  and 
charity,  or  love,  he  thought  far  more  excellent  than  all  spi- 
ritual gifts. 

Neither  were  the  elders,  among  the  jews,  learned  men. 
True,  after  the  establishment  of  the  synagogues  by  Ezra,  it 
was  conceived  to  be  necessary  that  the  bishop  should  be- 
come a  literary  man  ;  public  seminaries  were  formed  to  in- 
struct those  who  were  intended  to  occupy  the  episcopal  of- 
fice ;  then  honorary  titles  were  bestowed — such  as  Rabbi, 
Doctor,  &c.  Metaphysical  questions  were  soon  started; 
long  and  bitter  controversies  divided  the  community  into 
sects  and  parties ;  ordinances  and  burdens  were  imposed 
upon  the  human  conscience  ;  and  the  traditions  of  men  took 
the  place  of  the  commandments  of  God.     A  similar  opera- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  313 

tion  has  been  most  successfully  carried  on  since  the  ascen- 
sion of  the  Redeemer  and  the  death  of  his  apostles,  not- 
withstanding his  severe  criticism  of  these  public  errors  of 
the  jews,  and  his  direct  charge  to  his  disciples  not  to  imi- 
tate their  example.  And  now,  with  the  fully  formed  im- 
pression, that  literary  men  alone  should  enter  our  pulpits, 
multitudes  are  perishing  around  us  for  lack  of  vision ;  and 
the  church  has  no  agents  to  carry  home  to  the  poor,  the  in- 
struction which  is  necessary  to  raise  them  from  their  de- 
gradation. Elders  in  every  city,  ordained  according  to 
scriptural  rule,  receive  no  compensation  for  their  services, 
though  the  Redeemer  has  explicitly  declared  that  "  the  la- 
borer is  worthy  of  his  hire  ;"  and,  consequently,  no  services, 
or  very  few,  are  rendered.  The  church,  by  these  arrange- 
ments, seems  to  be  furnished  with  her  full  number  of  offi- 
cial men,  when  in  fact  she  is  not ;  and  the  gospel  is  not, 
nor  can  it  be,  carried  to  every  creature ;  but  the  very  in- 
fluence which  was  intended  to  bear  upon  the  poor  is  with- 
drawn, or  is  not  exerted.     The  consequence  is  natural. 

Society  at  large  is  not  literary,  either  in  old  or  new  coun- 
tries; and  particularly,  where  any  considerable  portion  of  the 
population  is  made  up  of  the  poor.  It  is,  therefore,  an  idle 
plan  which  requires  all  ministers  to  form  a  literary  character  ; 
and  more  especially,  when  the  eldership  render  no  actual  ser- 
vice. A  literary  community  may  call  for  literary  ministers  ; 
but  an  illiterate  community  would  be  much  better  served  by 
those,  who  are  not  very  far  ahead  of  themselves,.  As  society 
advances,  she  will  call  for  official  men  of  improved  character; 
and  she  will  be  able  to  furnish  them.  But  if  all  classes  are  put 
upon  a  level,  and  all  must  have  literary  preachers,  it  is  no 
matter  of  wonder  that  the  supply  should  be  short  of  the  de- 
mand, and  that  large  funds  are  required  to  meet  circum- 
stances which  society  can  never  manage.  The  consequence 
necessarily  is,  that  public  institutions  fail  to  realize  their  ob- 
ject, even  after  the  most  expensive  and  excessive  effort. 
The  poor  are  disregarded,  population  increases,  and  the  evil 
Vol.  II.— 27 


3X4  LECTURES  ON 

hourly  grows  more  unmanageable.  Occasionally  this  evil 
attracts  public  notice  ;  a  transient  excitement  is  produced  ; 
some  new  societies  are  formed  ;  interesting  speeches  are 
pronounced  ;  painful  statistics  are  repeated  ;  and  the  whole 
matter  terminates,  as  though  something  really  praise-worthy 
had  been  done,  while  the  divine  law  is  disobeyed,  and  so- 
ciety is  not  relieved. 

It  may  be  stated  that,  in  certain  sections  of  the  church  a 
different  plan  has  been  tried :  and  that,  notwithstanding 
some  objectionable  peculiarities,  these  sections  have  grown 
in  numbers  and  influence ;  both  society  and  ministerial 
character  have  improved  with  their  progress,  and  they  are 
rapidly  spreading  themselves  over  the  world.  The  fact  de- 
monstrates the  truth  of  the  preceding  remarks ;  yet,  after 
all,  it  is  only  a  sectional  movement ;  and  so  far  as  it  is  of 
sectarian  character,  it  adds  to  the  aggregate  of  evil.  It  would 
seem  strange  that  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  if  it  be 
what  it  professes  to  be,  should  not  carry  its  demonstration  to 
every  bosom.  Surely  it  cannot  lack  proof  of  its  own  truth  ; 
and  one  maybe  well  surprised  that  there  are  so  many  who 
do  not  submit  to  its  control.  It  is  easy  to  explain  their  con- 
duct by  referring  it  to  the  depravity  of  the  human  heart.  I 
shall  not  dispute  the  truth  of  the  position  ;  but  then  it  is 
very  general.  The  depravity  of  the  human  heart  may  in- 
clude in  it  a  great  variety  of  particulars  ;  and  those  par- 
ticulars should  be  ascertained,  that  the  general  mass  of  evil 
may  be  assailed.  If  the  difficulty  under  consideration  should 
be  the  result  of  mismanagement  in  the  practical  adminis- 
tration of  the  church,  then  to  keep  that  mismanagement  out 
of  sight,  and  to  talk  of  the  depravity  of  the  human  heart, 
may  seem  very  pious,  but  it  is  trifling  with  the  subject.  Per- 
adventure  many,  who  have  not  submitted  to  the  gospel, 
have  seldom  or  never  heard  it ;  and  to  speak  in  hard  terms 
of  their  rebellion  is  dealing  unfairly — for  "how  shall  they  be- 
lieve in  him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard  ?  And  how  shall 
they  hear  without  a  preacher?"  They  may  have  heard  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  315 

gospel,  and  yet  some  other  reason  may  account  for  their  un- 
belief. The  apostle  Paul  tells  the  jews — "The  name  of 
God  is  blasphemed  among  the  gentiles,  through  you."  And 
perhaps  the  matter  under  deliberation  may  be  traced  up  to 
a  like  cause ;  and  that  would  be  the  very  form  in  which  the 
depravity  of  the  human  heart  may  be  betrayed. 

"  By  this,"  said  the  Redeemer,  "  shall  all  men  know  that 
ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another."  And 
will  any  man,  who  has  any  acquaintance  with  the  different 
sects  in  the  christian  church  ;  who  has  heard  their  various 
controversies,  and  read  their  different  statements  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel ;  who  has  observed  the  principles  of 
their  association,  adopted  and  carried  out  into  execution  in 
defiance  of  the  claims  of  local  situation  ;  who  has  watched 
their  emulation,  their  proselyting  spirit,  and  their  sectarian 
prejudices — will  any  man,  who  has  known  all  this,  pretend 
to  say,  that  the  sects  have  demonstrated  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity by  their  brotherly  love  ?  Can  they  have  carried  light 
and  conviction  to  the  houses  and  bosoms  of  the  poor  ?  or  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  a  casual  observer  by  the  moral  ex- 
cellence of  their  profession,  or  by  the  beautiful  and  fasci- 
nating display  of  their  harmonious  feelings  in  a  common 
cause  ?  Will  not  the  multitude  be  rather  intimidated  from 
investigating  a  subject,  about  which  there  is  thus  apparent- 
ly declared  to  be  but  little  certainty?  Amid  the  confusion  of 
angry  passions,  bitter  words,  and  endless  strife,  would  "  one 
that  belie veth  not,  or  one  unlearned,  be  convinced  of  all 
and  judged  of  all?"  The  mischievous  consequences  of 
sectarianism  are  altogether  incalculable.  While  they  are 
defended  and  maintained,  the  church  can  bring  but  a  fee- 
ble moral  influence,  to  reform  the  crowds  of  paupers  that 
fill  our  land ;  and  can  never  exert  those  moral  restraints 
that  are  indispensably  necessary  to  remedy  the  evil,  which 
the  state  seems  long  since  to  have  given  up  in  despair.  If 
these  associations  were  dissolved,  and  christians  of  each 
community  should  consider  more  maturely  and  harmonious- 


316  LECTURES  ON 

ly  their  own  social  and  local  interests,  they  might  carry  out 
the  Redeemer's  rule,  and  supply  the  demonstration  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity  which  is  so  much  needed.  Those  as- 
sociations must  be  broken  up  ;  either  by  voluntary  consent, 
or  under  the  force  of  desolating  judgments,  which  already 
seem  to  be  abroad  in  the  earth.  A  bleeding,  a  wailing, 
a  dying  world  calls  upon  christians,  of  all  denominations, 
to  quit  their  strife,  and  hasten  to  preach  a  crucified  Christ 
in  her  houses  and  her  streets.  And  will  they  still  go  on, 
offending  and  injuring  that  world  by  their  contention,  in 
despite  of  all  warning  ?  Then  the  mightiest  influence,  by 
which  the  degraded  and  unhappy  poor  should  be  reformed, 
and  brought  back  to  sobriety,  industry,  and  morality,  will 
still  be  wanting;  and  all  their  benevolent  societies,  like  the 
monastic  institutions,  will  deepen  the  gloom,  aggravate  the 
sorrows,  and  increase  the  calamity,  they  professedly  seek 
to  relieve. 

If  it  were  not  for  these  forbidding  circumstances — i.  e. 
if  the  church  was  not  divided  into  contending  parties,  if  her 
official  principles  were  not  so  narrow  as  to  shut  out  all  but 
classical  men  from  her  pulpits,  and  if  the  pauper  principle 
were  not  so  popular  an  ingredient  in  her  own  general  mea- 
sures, she  might  bring  in  a  vast  amount  of  moral  influence 
to  bear  upon  all  classes.  She  would  be  a  praise  and  a  beauty 
in  the  midst  of  every  city  where  her  ordinances  are  admin- 
istered, illumining  the  darkness,  and  relieving  the  ignorance 
of  all  who  dwell  around  her  altars.  But  as  matters  now 
stand,  the  essential  principles  of  human  society  must  yield 
to  her  artificial  distinctions,  and  the  remedial  agencies  of 
the  Mediator  are  paralyzed  by  sectarian  regulations.  She 
has  acted  not  much  unlike  the  rich  man,  who,  fond  of  pomp 
and  display  and  equipage,  has  injured  his  own  children  by 
bringing  them  up  in  idleness,  and  with  feelings  of  pride  and 
selfishness,  which  have  rendered  them  indifferent  to  the 
wants  and  interests  of  all  around  them.  How  can  the  world 
be  else  than  injured  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  when  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  317 

very  means  of  moral  reformation,  which  God  himself  has 
instituted,  should  be  so  crippled  in  their  operation,  and  so 
circumscribed  in  their  objects  ?  when,  instead  of  elders 
being  ordained  in  every  city,  who  shall  be  identified  with 
each  particular  community,  a  class  of  men  is  detached 
from  society ;  and,  regulated  by  creeds  and  laws  of  their 
own,  are  better  instructed  to  govern,  than  to  reform,  their 
fellow  men  ?  Let  nature  and  reason  speak,  and  Christianity 
will  justify  their  decisions  ;  and  if  those  decisions  shall  be 
faithfully  and  affectionately  followed  up,  a  thousand  bless- 
ings will  be  diffused  abroad,  and  the  desert  will  presently 
blossom  as  the  rose. 

This  discussion  has  been  maintained,  because  its  subject 
fell  directly  in  my  way ;  but  more  particularly  with  a  view 
to  some  general  conclusions,  which  I  shall  now  briefly 
state.  It  is  very  evident,  that  the  argument  just  closed  is 
perfectly  parallel  to  that,  pursued  on  the  subject  of  faith, 
in  the  preceding  lecture.  Man  was  driven  from  paradise, 
because  that  God  would  not  maintain  him  as  a  pauper 
amid  its  luxuriance  and  bounty.  And  this  purpose  was 
adopted  and  carried  out,  not  in  an  unkind  and  arbitrary 
manner  ;  but  because  the  improvement  of  human  nature, 
and  the  necessary  restraints  under  temptation,  depend  upon 
the  industrious  exercise  of  our  own  faculties.  Such  is  de- 
monstrated to  be  philosophy,  from  the  whole  history  of 
mankind  in  relation  to  the  means  of  subsistence.  The 
same  thing  would  be  very  apparent,  if  the  acquisition  of 
science  had  been  the  subject  of  inquiry;  and  morals  can- 
not be  considered  as  an  exception  to  the  general  law,  when 
that  law  results  from  the  simple  philosophy  of  mind.  Faith, 
therefore,  like  labor,  involves  the  full  exercise  of  the  hu- 
man faculties  ;  and,  as  the  means  of  subsistence  cannot  be 
obtained  without,  but  may  most  certainly  be  obtained  with, 
man's  personal  labor;  so  salvation  cannot  be  achieved  with- 
out, but  may  most  certainly  be  achieved  by,  the  exercise  of 
faith,  as  the  operation  of  his  individual  powers. 
27* 


318  LECTURES  ON 

The  objection  must  not  be  again  returned  upon  us,  that 
this  view  of  faith  shuts  out  the  operation  of  divine  power, 
while  the  scriptures  declare  the  necessity  for  regeneration. 
For  though  man  must,  and  can,  obtain  the  means  of  subsis- 
tence by  his  own  labor,  yet  by  the  divine  constitution  it  is 
God  who  prospers  his  effort ;  nor  only  so,  but  Jehovah 
carries  a  regenerating  influence  into  the  field  of  labor. 
"Thou  sendest  forth  thy  Spirit,"  says  the  psalmist,  "  they 
are  created;  and  thou  renewest  the  face  of  earth."  The 
same  word  is  here  used,  which  is  again  employed  by  the 
psalmist  when  he  prays,  "  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  0 
God,  renew  a  right  spirit  within."  The  use  of  such  lan- 
guage in  the  scriptures,  does  not  at  all  interfere  with  our 
personal  responsibility  and  effort ;  nor  is  it  ever  intended 
to  argue  an  incapacity  on  the  part  of  man  to  believe  more 
than  it  does  an  incapacity  to  labor.  Neither  does  the  use 
of  such  terms  imply  a  state  of  absolute  death  in  reference 
to  the  subject  to  which  they  are  applied ;  for  when  the 
regenerating  process  is  carried  on  in  the  spring,  life  is  not 
infused,  but  is  merely  called  out  into  exercise.  The  dead 
tree,  or  vine,  or  plant,  is  not  revived :  but  a  principle  of 
life  is  acted  on,  wherever  it  exists;  just  as  we  have  sup- 
posed in  relation  to  morals. 

I  am  not  without  my  fears,  that  divine  grace  is  often  con- 
sidered as  a  simple  gratuity,  and  the  mediatorial  kingdom 
as  a  kind  of  pauper  establishment.  It  appears  to  me,  that 
many,  whether  conscious  of  it  or  not,  really  mean  no  more 
by  their  doctrines  of  free  grace  and  imputed  righteousness. 
Let  them  analyze  their  terms  and  phrases,  and  honestly  de- 
cide— if  they  can  dissolve  the  charm  of,  what  they  call, 
sound  words.  For  myself,  though  "  glorying  in  the  grace 
wherein  we  stand,"  I  cannot  sanction  a  notion,  which 
would  so  entirely  desecrate  man  as  a  moral  agent,  and  rob 
him  of  the  glory  of  a  sanctified  character.  The  philoso- 
phy of  human  nature,  is  at  irreconcilable  war  with  the  idea : 
and  the  material  world  furnishes  us  with  no  emblems  of  it. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  319 

God  calls  upon  men  to  act  up  to  the  whole  extent  of  their 
powers,  and  demands  no  more  of  them.  He  does  not  re- 
quire, "deeds  of  law,"  because  we  cannot  render  them. 
"Faith  is  counted  for  righteousness,"  because  such  a  sys- 
tem is  consistent  with  our  capacities  ;  and  can  be  fully  car- 
ried out,  according  to  the  philosophy  of  human  nature,  and 
the  ordinary  laws  of  his  providence.  It  is  true,  that  God 
has  given  to  us,  and  for  us,  his  only  begotten  Son  ;  but  it  is 
equally  true,  that  he  has  given  the  earth  to  the  sons  of  men. 
While  in  the  one  case,  the  means  of  subsistence  are  the 
product  of  human  labor,  and  in  perfect  consistency  with 
the  gifts  that  have  been  bestowed  ;  so  in  the  other  the  be- 
liever works  out  his  own  salvation,  on  the  principle  that  it 
is  God  who  works  in  him.  As  we  are  called  upon  to  pray 
for  our  daily  bread,  so  we  pray  continually  for  the  healthful 
influences  of  divine  grace ;  and  as  the  Spirit  of  God  re- 
sponds in  the  one  instance,  so  he  does  in  the  other.  If 
men  will  not  labor,  they  must  starve ;  and  if  they  will  not 
believe,  they  must  perish.  The  doctrine  oi personal  respon- 
sibility thus  again  stands  out  justified  and  commended  as  a 
display  of  pure  moral  philosophy,  and  intelligible  scriptural 
legislation. 

In  preaching  the  gospel  to  any  community,  the  Redeem- 
er directed  his  disciples  to  seek  out  in  the  first  place,  the 
man  who  was  worthy — like  the  angels  searching  Lot  in 
Sodom;  or  Jehovah  making  inquiry  after  "  ten  righteous 
men,"  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  a  starting  point  for  a 
remedial  operation.  A  direct  assault  upon  the  worst  part 
of  the  community,  though  sustained  by  the  denunciation  of 
most  fearful  terrors,  is  not  the  most  prudent  ministerial 
effort ;  and  even  when  it  is  successful,  it  generally  amounts 
to  a  discovery  of  some  worthy  men,  who  might  have  been 
called  out  by  less  violent  measures.  But  ministers  are  so 
much  in  the  habit  of  calculating  on  divine  sovereignty,  or 
which  is  the  same  thing,  on  divine  power,  that  they  are  apt  to 
imagine  that  God's- providence  must  guaranty  all  their  ab- 


3-20  LECTURES  ON 

surdities.  Nothing  is  set  down  to  the  action  of  intelligent 
human  nature;  public  opinion  is  set  at  defiance;  and  com- 
mon sense  is  laughed  to  scorn,  in  presuming  to  judge  of 
spiritual  things.  But  in  the  mediatorial  operations  of  the 
Son  of  God,  the  human  mind  must  pass  for  all  it  is  worth ; 
and  the  only  value  of  a  minister  himself,  consists  either  in 
the  intelligence  he  displays,  or  the  moral  influence  he  may 
exert.  An  altar  inscribed  to  "the  unknown  God,"  may 
afford  a  better  starting  point  for  a  moral  reformation,  than 
the  talents  or  eloquence  of  a  Paul,  with  all  the  abstract 
mysteries  that  all  antiquity  could  afford. 

An  individual  must  be  approached  with  like  wisdom  and 
caution.  The  remedial  point  in  his  character  should  be  as- 
certained, and  then  addressed  as  though  a  thinking  being 
were  to  be  roused  to  action.  That  point  may  be  some- 
times very  high,  and  at  other  times  very  low.  Uniformity 
is  an  idea  that  belongs  only  to  the  mind  that  is  ignorant  of 
human  nature,  or  which  jesuitically  intends  to  degrade  and 
enslave  human  beings.  Or,  as  has  been  well  remarked — 
"by  placing  force  on  the  side  of  faith,  you  put  courage  on 
the  side  of  doubt."  Call  it  what  you  may — grace,  sover- 
eignty, power,  mystery,  law,  or  gospel — apply  it  where  you 
may — in  religion,  politics,  literature,  or  charity — enforce  it 
on  whom  you  may,  christian,  jew,  mahomedan,  or  pagan 
— the  system,  whose  formalities  do  not  serve  to  revive  the 
moral  sense,  nor  to  awaken  the  intellectual  energies  of  man, 
is  false  in  philosophy ;  is  heretical  in  Christianity ;  and  was 
never  espoused  by  Jehovah,  nor  successful  in  practice.  I 
care  not  what  excitement  may  be  produced ;  what  alarms 
maybe  roused;  what  tears  may  flow;  or  what  numbers 
may  be  added  to  a  party ;  the  end  must  be  disastrous. 
There  is  nothing  to  prevent  such  a  catastrophe.  A  high 
nervous  excitability  rushes  into  every  extravagance,  and 
is  pleased  with  its  own  prowess  ;  but  its  boasted  good  is 
based  on  the  heaviest  social  calamities.  Our  influential 
men,  who  win  public  favor  by  popular  show,  may  think 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  321 

differently.  To  their  own  Master  they  stand  or  fall.  But 
purperism  in  every  form  is  false  in  philosophy  and  false  in 
morals. 


LECTURE  XIX. 


Principle   of  Religious   Forms, —  Cherubim. — Sacrifice. — 
JVew  Testament  Ordinances. —  Conclusion. 

When  Jehovah-Elohim  created  our  first  parents,  and 
placed  them  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  he  afforded  to  them 
in  forms  correspondent  with  their  own  nature,  every  va- 
riety of  instructive  emblems.  The  heavens  and  the  earth 
declared  his  glory — the  assumption  of  personal  form  pre- 
sented to  them  a  "ministerial  organ"  of  heavenly  fellow- 
ship with  himself — the  garden  of  Eden  was  his  holy  tem- 
ple, where  he  delivered  his  law,  and  where  they  enjoyed 
his  presence — the  seventh  day  was  a  memorial  of  his  fin- 
ished work,  and  summoned  them  to  some  special  services, 
which  they  were  required  to  render,  in  view  of  a  heavenly 
rest  into  which  they  should  ultimately  enter — the  surround- 
ing objects  were  lovely  and  good,  teaching  them  of  the  love> 
the  wisdom,  the  power,  and  the  righteousness  of  God — no- 
thing was  wanting  to  explain  their  duty  and  to  attract  them 
to  its  performance. 

Even  in  a  political  point  of  view,  when  the  paradisiacal 
statute  was  proclaimed  ;  and  social  responsibility,  with  all 
its  multifarious  circumstances,  was  appended  to  personal 
obligation  as  connected  with  the  law  written  on  the  heart, 
the  garden  furnished  a  still  more  exuberant  display  of  di- 
vine goodness.     If  this  secondary  form  of  human  existence 


322  LECTURES  ON 

multiplied  duties,  it  also  multiplied  exterior  advantages  as 
attendant  on  those  duties.  It  was  not  good  that  man  should 
be  alone  ;  so  that  the  paradisiacal  constitution  was  establish- 
ed out  of  real  kindness ;  and  was  so  set  forth  by  the  vari- 
ous circumstances  under  which  it  was  introduced.  The 
tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  placed  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden,  was  like  every  other  symbol,  a  kind 
and  a  needful  monitor,  as  well  as  a  simple  and  easy  test  of 
obedience.  In  short,  place  man  where  you  will,  his  char- 
acter must  be  developed  by  his  works.  Thus  he  is  to  be 
estimated  and  judged  by  both  God  and  men. — "By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 

In  the  progress  of  our  discussion,  we  are  now  contem- 
plating man  as  a  sinner;  and  as  placed  under  a  remedial 
system  which,  like  the  original  institute,  must  be  corres- 
pondent with  his  own  nature.  He  is  still  surrounded  by 
the  outward  exhibitions  of  the  divine  goodness.  Now,  as 
well  as  at  first,  the  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God. 
Social  life,  with  its  appropriate  relations,  we  see  have  been 
preserved;  and  its  distinctive  purposes  are  held  up  to 
view  as  good  in  their  intentions,  and  as  important  in  their 
operations,  as  ever  they  were.  A  sabbatical  ordinance, 
emblematic  of  a  heavenly  rest  to  be  enjoyed  after  we 
shall  have  fulfilled  our  various  responsibilities  and  finished 
our  earthly  labors,  was  not  revoked.  Evil  it  is  true  has 
been  introduced  ;  but  then  that  evil  has  not  been  the  en- 
tire desolation  of  the  good  originally  created.  The  condi- 
tion, the  constitution,  and  the  life  of  man  are  an  intermix- 
ture of  good  and  evil ;  and  a  remedy  has  been  promul- 
gated by  which  he  may  overcome  the  evil.  And  this  se- 
cond constitution,  like  the  first,  being  based  upon,  and  con- 
sistent with  the  principles  of  human  action,  or  calling 
upon  men  to  labor  according  to  their  ability,  must  estab- 
lish its  own  external  ordinances,  and  be  illustrated  by  a 
series  of  evangelical  symbols.  The  nature  of  man  requires 
these  provisions :  the  whole  material  world  was  construct- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  323 

ed  to  answer  such  purposes.  The  cherubic  emblems  and 
the  sacrificial  institution,  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  if 
they  correspond  with  the  peculiarities  of  our  situation, 
may  be  sustained  by  reasons  as  rational,  and  fulfil  inten- 
tions as  valuable,  as  any  other  ordinance,  human  or  divine. 
In  fact,  without  such  outward  forms,  the  remedial  system 
would  soon  sink  into  oblivion ;  for,  by  what  other  means 
would  you  furnish  man  with  remedial  ideas,  seeing  that 
he  obtains  his  ideas  by  his  corporeal  senses. 

Religious  forms  have  created  a  great  deal  of  discussion. 
Some  moralists  can  never  have  enough  of  them ;  they  add 
line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon  precept;  rites  and  cere- 
monies, fasts  and  feasts,  days  and  weeks  have  been  mul- 
tiplied without  end :  new  inventions  are  added  to  old  tra- 
ditions, and  judgment,  mercy,  and  faith  are  forgotten 
amid  tithes  of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin.  Social  com- 
binations and  ceremonial  display  become  substitutes  for 
practical  virtues;  and  formularies  of  faith  and  prayer 
render  thought  and  investigation  unnecessary.  An  ec- 
clesiastical legislation  of  this  kind,  small  in  its  beginnings 
but  fearfully  rapid  in  its  progress,  has  more  than  once  held 
on  its  course,  until  a  ritual  has  been  established,  so  child- 
ish and  burdensome,  that  revolution  has  become  indispen- 
sably necessary. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  have  rushed  into  the  opposite 
extreme,  and  have  cast  off  all  religious  forms.  They  would 
adore  God  in  the  great  temple  of  nature,  and  laugh  at  all 
religious  associations.  In  the  outward  ceremonies  of  di- 
vine worship — in  the  priestly  functions,  in  the  sacrificial 
institution,  in  evangelical  ordinances — they  can  see  no- 
thing but  the  inventions  of  desio-nino-  men.     In  the  church 

~  Do 

itself,  hundreds  can  hear  sermons,  and,  out  of  respect  to 
public  opinion,  seek  baptism  for  their  children ;  but  per- 
ceive no  beauty,  and  feel  no  attractions  in  the  new  testa- 
ment passover.  So  mankind  pass  from  one  extreme  to 
another,  and  in  rejecting  the  superstition  of  the   age  in 


324  LECTURES  ON 

which  they  live,  lose  sight  of  the  elemental  principles  of 
their  individual  and  social  nature ;  and  that  too,  while  they 
can  draw  an  accurate  line  in  an  analogous  case ;  or  can  point 
out  the  difference  between  despotism  and  anarchy,  politi- 
cally considered.  Sometimes  these  contradictory  matters 
institute  their  rival  pretensions ; — ignorance  presuming  to 
be  the  mother  of  devotion,  and  infidelity  running  up  her 
genealogy  to  superstition — until  intelligent  men  are  brought 
to  live  in  fearful  suspense,  painfully  prognosticating,  yet 
afraid  to  meet,  the  disasters  that  are  coming. 

The  promise  given  to  our  first  parents,  assuring  them  that 
"  the  Seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head," 
was  certainly  not  all  that  Jehovah  gave,  in  order  to  set  be- 
fore them  the  remedial  institute.  The  fate  of  the  literal 
serpent,  converted  into  a  degraded  symbol  of  Satan's  over- 
throw, which  has  been  known  in  every  age,  and  exhibited 
in  every  country — the  remark  of  Eve  on  the  birth  of  Cain, 
when  she  observed,  "I  have  gotten  a  man.  even  Jehovah 
his  very  self" — the  offerings  which  Cain  and  Abel  respec- 
tively brought  to  the  Lord — the  official  distinctions  which 
were  very  soon  so  accurately  defined,  and  so  strongly 
marked — the  prevalence  of  sacrifice  all  over  the  world,  ac- 
companied with  the  expectations  of  a  mediatorial  advent — 
these,  and  other  matters  of  a  similar  kind  which  might  be 
mentioned,  certainly  evince  that  fuller  representations  were 
made  at  the  time,  than  Moses  has  recorded.  He  was 
writing  to  a  people  who  were  no  strangers  to  the  matters  to 
which  he  so  briefly  refers;  and  he  felt  no  occasion  to  write 
any  fuller  details  for  future  generations,  because  the  insti- 
tutions, which  he  was  commissioned  to  establish,  would 
supply  any  deficiency  which  might  be  felt.  The  prophe- 
cies and  promises  which  himself  uttered,  the  types  and  or- 
dinances, designed  to  prefigure  the  coming  Messiah  and 
his  work,  which  belonged  to  the  Sinaic  ritual,  clearly  an- 
nounced whatever  was  necessary  to  be  known  by  us.  For 
this  reason  Moses  has  not  traced  up  sacrifice  to  its  divine 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  325 

origin,  further  than  as  it  is  implied  in  the  history  of  the 
events  he  records ;  nor  has  he,  any  where  in  his  writings, 
explained  the  nature  of  the  cherubim.  Both  of  these, 
however,  appear  to  have  been  attached  to  the  early  system 
of  worship,  which  Jehovah  established  when  he  expelled 
man  from  the  garden.  Neither  of  them  was  forgotten,  ei- 
ther among  jews  or  pagans,  at  the  time  when  Moses  wrote. 
They  evidently  distinguished  the  whole  patriarchal  dis- 
pensation, and  were  left  among  the  heathen,  at  the  very 
time  they  were  renewed  with  such  peculiar  glory  among 
the  descendants  of  Abraham. — But  they  require  some  far- 
ther illustration. 

The  cherubim  are  not  generally  understood.  "  The  com- 
mon notion,"  says  Faber,  "  that  they  were  little  better  than 
a  sort  of  terrific  scare- crows,  employed  to  prevent  mankind 
from  approaching  the  tree  of  life,  seems  to  me  to  be  no  less 
childish,  than  irreconcilable  with  other  parts  of  scripture." 
Under  the  levitical  economy,  the  cherubim  were  placed 
first  in  the  tabernacle,  and  afterwards  in  the  temple.  And 
if  so,  why  should  they  not  be  considered  as  serving  a  cor- 
responding purpose  from  the  very  beginning  ?  If  they  were 
then,  as  well  as  afterwards,  placed  in  a  tabernacle,  it  would 
seem  that  no  doubt  should  be  left,  either  of  their  hiero- 
glyphical  character,  or  of  their  sacred  intention.  And  that 
they  were  so  placed,  appears  to  be  very  distinctly  implied 
in  the  following  apocryphal  text ; — '"  Thou  hast  commanded 
me  to  build  a  temple  upon  thy  holy  mount,  and  an  altar 
in  the  city  wherein  thou  dwellest,  a  resemblance  of  the 
holy  tabernacle,  which  thou  hast  prepared  from  the  begin- 
ning."* The  "flaming  sword  which  turned  every  way," 
was  "a  bright  blaze  of  bickering  fire,"  or  "a  fire  infold- 
ing itself;"  which  was  equally  characteristic  of  the  levi- 
tical cherubim,  and  the  symbol  of  the  divine  presence. 
The  Jewish  rabbins  have  called  this  display  of  the  divine 
glory    the   shechinah :    which   is  a  term   merely    angli- 

*  Wis.  of  Sol.  ix.  8. 
Vol.  II.— 28 


326  LECTURES  ON 

rising,  in  its  substantive  form,  the  very  word  which  Moses 
here  uses,  and  which  our  translators  have  very  imperfectly 
rendered  placed.  It  ought  to  be — "  Jehovah-Elohim  caused 
to  dwell,,  or  put  in  a  tabernacle,  at  the  east  end,  or  before, 
the  garden  of  Eden,  the  cherubim." 

When  Moses  gave  his  directions   concerning  the  taber- 
nacle, which  was  erected  in  the  wilderness,  he  did  not  de- 
scribe the  cherubim.     Neither  were  they  described  after- 
wards, when   Solomon  built  the  temple.     No  very  good 
reason  can  be  assigned  for  this  repeated  silence,  unless  it 
be  that  the  people  were  well  acquainted  with  their  charac- 
ter and  form :  and  this  reason  will  be  entirely  satisfactory, 
if  it  is  recollected  that  "  the  various  consecrated  utensils, 
and  outer  parts  of  the   temple,  were  profusely   decorated 
with  these  mysterious  hieroglyphics."     Ezekiel,  however, 
has  supplied  the  deficiency,  when  he  details  "the  visions 
of  God,"  which  he  saw  by  the  river  of  Chebar.     He  saw 
four  living  creatures,  which  had  the  face  of  a  man,  the 
face  of  a  lion,  the  face  of  an  ox,  and  the  face  of  an  ea- 
gle."*    Again  he  remarks — "I  knew  that  they  were  the 
cherubim  ; — every    one    had   four   faces   apiece."!      Of 
course  the  cherubim   were  well  known,   as   having  four 
faces,  surmounted  by  a  brilliant  display,  or  ardent  blaze : — 
"the  cherubim  of  trlory.''  or  of  manifestation,  as  Paul  de- 
nominates them ;  though  even  he  did  not  think  it  worth 
while  to  speak  particularly  about  them.t 

Furthermore,  the  same  prophet,  referring  to  the  king  of 
Tyre,  represents  him  as  having  been  in  Eden,  the  garden 
of  God,  and  describes  him  as  "the  anointed  cherub  that 
covereth  ;  that  was  upon  the  holy  mountain  of  God, 
that  walked  up  and  down  in  the  midst  of  the  stones  of 
fire,"  and  the  Lord  God  said  to  him — "  I  will  destroy 
thee  0  covering  cherub  from  the  midst  of  the  stones  of 
fire."§     The  prophet,  by  his  allusion,  not  only  evinces 

*  Ezek.  i.  t  Ezek.  x.  10—22.  J  Heb.  ix.  5. 

§Ezek.  xxviii.  12 — 16. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  327 

that  there  were  cherubim  situated  in  connexion  with  pa- 
radise, or  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  that  they  were  asso- 
ciated with  a  fiery  display ;  but  he  does  this  after  having 
previously  exhibited  the  cherubim  with  four  faces,  over 
which  was  seen  "a  fire  infolding  itself."  Nor  is  this  all. 
The  king  is  called  a  covering  cherub  ;  a  term  which  we 
cannot  explain,  unless  we  call  up  the  fact  that  the  cheru- 
bim shadowed,  or  covered,  the  mercy-seat,  under  the  levi- 
tical  dispensation.  If  this  be  the  explanation,  then  so 
distinct  a  reference  to  the  mercy-seat  leads  us  at  once  to 
the  idea,  that  there  were  not  only  cherubim  placed  in  a 
tabernacle  before  the  garden  of  Eden ;  but  that  a  ritual, 
large  and  varied,  including  all  the  different  ministerial  ser- 
vices attendant  on  its  ordinances,  was  established  from  the 
beginning.  The  argument,  therefore,  which  demonstrates 
the  erection  of  the  tabernacle,  and  its  furniture,  from  the 
beginning,  irrefutably  proves  the  divine  origin  of  sacrifice, 
or  the  enactment  of  that  institution  by  divine  authority. 

The  four  faces  which  Ezekiel  enumerates — the  ox,  the 
lion,  the  eagle,  and  the  man,  have  been  used  as  sacred 
symbols  all  over  the  world.  "  This  uniform  veneration  of 
them,"  as  Faber  remarks,  "  must  have  proceeded  from  a 
common  origin.  That  common  origin  can  only  be  found 
in  a  period,  when  all  mankind  formed  a  single  society. 
The  existence  of  that  single  society  cannot  be  placed  later 
than  the  building  of  the  tower  of  Babel.  Consequently, 
the  first  veneration  of  those  symbols  cannot  be  ascribed  to 
a  more  recent  age  than  that  of  Nimrod.  But  in  that  age, 
which  was  marked  by  the  commencement  of  a  mythologi- 
cal system,  that  was  afterwards  carried  into  every  region  of 
the  earth  by  those  of  the  dispersion,  the  form  of  the  che- 
rubic symbols  must  have  been  well  known.  Since  the 
genuine  patriarchism,  and  the  rise  of  idolatry,  thus  chrono- 
logically meet  together ;  since  the  latter  seems  evidently 
to  have  been  a  perverse  depravation  of  the  former ;  since 
the  three  animal  figures,  which  entered  into  the  compound 


328  '        LECTURES  ON 

shape  of  the  cherubim,  are  the  very  three  animal  figures 
which  have  been  universally  venerated  by  the  gentiles, 
from  the  most  remote  antiquity  ;  I  see  not  how  we  can  rea- 
sonably avoid  the  obvious  conclusion,  that,  in  whatever 
manner  the  pagans  applied  the  symbols  of  the  bull,  the 
lion,  and  the  eagle,  they  were  borrowed  in  the  first  instance 
from  those  animals,  as  combined  together  in  the  form  of  the 
cherubim." 

You  will  no  doubt  have  perceived,  that,  as  the  time  of 
dispersion,  referred  to  in  the  preceding  extract,  was  that 
which  occurred  when  Jehovah  came  down  to  confound  the 
languages  of  mankind,  at  the  building  of  the  tower  of  Babel, 
the  only  cherubim,  from  which  the  gentiles  could  have 
derived  their  ideas,  and  have  learned  to  venerate  those 
animal  figures,  both  conjointly  and  separately,  were  the 
paradisiacal  cherubim.  If  so,  then  these  four  faces  be- 
longed to  this  great  antediluvian  symbol,  before  which  Cain 
and  Abel  brought  their  offerings,  as  Moses  informs  us ;  and 
when,  probably,  the  question — who  was  to  be  the  heir  of 
Adam's  official  honors — was  visibly  and  peremptorily  de- 
cided. Nor  have  we  the  least  reason  to  believe,  that  those 
cherubim,  whatever  they  were,  were  soon  withdrawn.  Ad- 
mitting that  they  were  like  the  levitical  symbols  which 
were  afterwards  set  up,  and  which  were  placed  in  the  holi- 
est of  all,  "shadowing  the  mercy-seat ;"  while  none  but  the 
high-priest  could  enter  within  the  vail,  and  that  only  on 
one  day  in  the  year,  their  permanency  was  as  necessary  in 
the  one  case,  as  in  the  other.  Indeed,  the  universality  of 
the  cherubic  emblems  argues  as  strongly  in  favor  of  their 
permanency,  as  of  their  existence. 

Having,  as  I  suppose,  sufficiently  elucidated  the  identity 
of  the  two  representations,  or  the  sameness  of  the  inten- 
tions evolved  in  the  paradisiacal  and  levitical  cherubim, 
another  question  presents  itself,  and  one  which  has  been 
frequently  and  elaborately  discussed.  It  is  this: — what 
was  designed  by  this  exhibition?     Some  have  supposed 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  399 

that   "  created  spiritual  angels'r  were   represent©!  under 
these   singular  and  peculiar  emblems ;  and  that  as  these 
faces  were  turned  to  one  another,  and  towards  the  mercy- 
seat,  the  angels  were  exhibited  thereby  as  intensely  prying 
into,  or  studying,  the  mysteries  of  redeeming  love.    Others 
have  considered  the  cherubim  to  be  "  emblematical  of  the 
ever  blessed  trinity,  in  covenant  to  redeem  man,  by  unit- 
ing the  human  nature  to  the  second  person ."     These  latter 
critics  proceed  to  argue,  "that  the  personality  in  Jehovah 
is  in  scripture  represented  by  the  material  trinity  of  nature ; 
and  that  the  primary  type  of  the  Father,  is  fire  ;    of  the 
Word,  light ;  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  spirit,  or  air  in  mo- 
tion.    The  ox  or  bull,  on  account  of  his  horns,  the  curling 
hair  on  his  forehead,  and  his  unrelenting  fury  when  pro- 
voked, is  a  very  proper  animal  emblem  of  fire  ;  as  the  lion, 
from  his  usual  tawny,  gold-like  color,  his  flowing  mane,  his 
shining  eyes,  his  great  vigilance  and  prodigious  strength,  is 
of  the  light ;  and  thus  likewise  the  eagle  is  of  the  spirit, 
or  air  in  action,  from  his  being  chief  among  fowls,  from  his 
impetuous    motion,  and   from   his  towering  and  surprising 
flights  in  the  air."     Such  speculations  you  may,  perhaps, 
consider  to  be  exceedingly  fanciful,  and  to  manifest  a  great 
deal  more  of  doctrinal  predilections,  than  of  sound  or  pro- 
fitable criticism.     The  whole  may  remind  you  that  the 
heathen  interpreted  these  emblems  much  in  the  same  man- 
ner, considering  that  these  four  faces  were  symbolic  of  the 
great  deity  they  -worshipped ;  and  that  for  this  reason 
Paul  condemns  them — because  they  changed  the  glory  of 
the  incorruptible  god  into  an  image  made  like  to  corrupti- 
ble man,  and  to  birds,  and  four  footed  beasts,  and  creeping 
things." 

In  the  book  of  revelation,  an  apostle  informs  us,  that — 
"in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  and  round  about  the  throne, 
were  four  living  creatures,  full  of  eyes  before  and  behind. 
And  the  first  living  creature  was  like  a  lion,  and  the  second 
living  creature  was  like  a  calf,  and  the  third  living  creature 
28* 


330  LECTURES  ON 

had  a  fee  as  a  man,  and  the  fourth  living  creature  was  like 
a  flying  eagle.  And  the  four  living  creatures  had  each  of 
them  six  wings  about  him ;  and  they  were  full  of  eyes 
within :  and  they  rest  not  day  and  night,  saying,  Holy, 
holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  was,  and  is,  and  is 
to  come."  Again,  it  is  said  that  these  "  four  living  crea- 
tures, with  the  four  and  twenty  elders,  fell  down  before  the 
Lamb — and  they  sung  a  new  song,  saying — Thou  art  wor- 
thy to  take  the  book,  and  to  open. the  seals  thereof:  for  thou 
wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood  out  of 
every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation,  and 
hast  made  us  unto  our  God  kings  and  priests :  and  we  shall 
reign  on  the  earth."  Here  then  we  have  these  same  four 
faces  which  distinguished  the  cherubim ;  but  instead  of 
representing  either  angels  or  the  trinity,  they  represent,  in 
some  view  or  other,  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord,  gathered 
out  of  every  kindred  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation. 
Again,  it  is  said  of  the  redeemed — "they  are  before  the 
throne  of  God,  and  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  temple ; 
and  he  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  dwell  among  them." 
This  latter  clause  would  be  more  literally  rendered — shall 
dwell  as  in  a  tabernacle  above  them.  The  same  sort  of  phra- 
seology is  used  in  reference  to  the  Redeemer — "The  Word 
was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  as  in  a  tabernacle  amongst  us." 
Once  more  it  is  said — "the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men, 
and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people, 
and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God;" 
even  then,  when  "  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their 
eyes  ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor 
crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain  :  for  the  former 
things  are  passed  away."  It  would  appear  that  the  cheru- 
bim and  the  saints,  occupy  a  similar  position,  and  the  Lord 
God  is  represented  to  dwell  as  in  a  tabernacle  above  both  of 
them.  The  cherubim  then  were  emblematical  of  the  saints ; 
and  "the  fire  infolding  itself,"  which  was  a  symbol  of  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  331 

divine   glory  over  or  above  the  cherubim,  was  emblemati- 
cal of  God's  dwelling  with  his  people. 

Such  was  not  only  the  import  of  the  levitical,  but  also  of 
the  paradisiacal,  cherubim :  or  the  cherubim  at  the  east  end 
of  the  garden  of  Eden,  placed  there  in  a  tabernacle,  with 
"a  bright  blaze  of  bickering  lire,"  constituted  the  great 
antediluvian  symbol  of  the  mediatorial  constitution ;  or  of 
its  happy  issue,  when  the  redeemed  shall  be  brought  home 
to  glory.  If  I  have  rightly  explained  this  matter,  you  ma}7" 
perceive  what  a  happy  and  glorious  illustration  of  the  first 
promise  these  cherubim  afforded.  You  can  understand 
what  is  meant  in  the  fourth  chapter,  when  the  two  brothers 
are  said  to  bring  their  offerings  unto  the  Lord ;  and  when 
Cain  is  spoken  of  as  going  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord 
to  dwell  in  the  land  of  Nod.  You  can  readily  conceive, 
not  only  that  sacrifice  was  then  enjoined,  but  that  Adam 
must  have  been,  by  special  appointment,  the  priest  of  the 
most  high  God;  and  how  the  question  of  birthright,  as  in- 
volving the  honors  of  the  priesthood,  might  awake  the  jea- 
lous ambition  of  Cain,  as  he  himself  was  declining,  and 
Abel  was  advancing,  in  the  excellence  and  integrity  of  per- 
sonal character.  And  you  can  easily  account  for  the  well 
authenticated  fact,  that  throughout  the  whole  gentile  world, 
the  four  faces  were  so  highly  venerated  ;  while  every  where 
tabernacles,  and  mounts,  and  groves,  were  sacred  to  the 
worship  of  the  gods.  Such  a  splendid  and  magnificent 
symbol,  permanently  located  so  near  the  garden  of  Eden, 
and  serving  such  peculiar  and  holy  purposes,  would  be  as 
reverentially  regarded,  as  the  corresponding  levitical  taber- 
nacle was  among  the  jews.  The  knowledge  of  its  early 
erection  by  the  divine  hand,  together  with  all  its  moral  re- 
ferences, would  be  faithfully  transmitted  by  Noah  ;  and,  ac- 
quiring new  importance  from  the  history  of  the  judgments 
which  overtook  the  world,  the  symbol  itself  might,  and 
would,  be  preserved,  even  though  its  evangelical  allusions 
might  have  become  grossly  perverted.     Look  at  the  analo- 


332  LECTURES  ON 

gous  history  of  the  cross,  which,  as  an  emblem  of  Chris- 
tianity, has  been  so  grievously  abused. 

The  particular  object  which,  it  would  seem  from  our 
translation,  the  cherubim  were  designed  to  serve,  was  to 
guard  the  way  to  the  frees  of  life ;  or  to  prevent  man  from 
entering  the  garden,  and  living  on  the  fruit  of  those  trees. 
Of  the  importance  of  that  object,  no  one,  who  has  ever  ex- 
amined the  philosophy  of  human  life,  or  who  has  observed  ' 
how  little  confidence  can  be  reposed  in  the  honorable  feel- 
ings of  human  beings,  can  have  any  doubt.  The  last  lec- 
ture has  evinced  the  relations  which  that  object  sustains  to 
the  theory  here  advanced.  But,  certainly,  it  is  not  neces- 
sary that  we  should  have  a  flaming  swo?-d,  in  order  to  sus- 
tain the  political  operation,  and  to  hold  man  in  perpetual 
and  distressing  fear.  None  of  the  jews,  saving  the  high- 
priest,  could  enter  within  the  holiest  of  all.  The  whole 
dispensation,  under  which  they  lived,  was  one  that  was  cha- 
racterized by  bondage  and  fear.  Were  any  invasions  on 
the  sacred  symbols  ever  attempted  ?  Give  to  the  human 
mind  the  idea  of  a  supernatural  agency,  and  immediately 
its  sense  of  guilt  is  waked,  and  all  its  fears  are  roused.  The 
present  emblem  of  the  divine  glory  was,  therefore,  not  to 
be  slighted;  nor  could  a  trespass  have  been  committed,  or 
an  invasion  of  the  garden  have  occurred,  without  betraying 
a  previous  course  of  wanton  violence,  and  debasing  sensu- 
ality. All  the  fine  feelings  of  the  human  heart  must  first 
have  been  desolated  ;  and  society,  in  view  both  of  official 
and  private  character,  must  have  become  abandoned  and 
dissolute.  Ages  must  have  rolled  by,  infidelity  must  have 
been  triumphant,  and  atheism  herself  have  risen  in  fearless 
and  haughty  triumph,  before  an  act  of  rebellion,  so  daring 
and  desperate,  could  have  been  attempted. 

It  is,  however,  by  no  means  improbable,  judging  from 
some  scriptural  alLusions  which  shall  be  stated,  as  well  as 
from  the  legendary  lore  of  the  pagan  world,  that  such  an 
attempt  was  finally  made,  and  that  it  became  the  ostensible 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  333 

occasion  of  introducing  the  flood.  But  if  that  really  was 
the  fact,  it  verifies  the  statement  I  have  made  :  for  Moses 
informs  us  that — "  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man 
was  great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the 
thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil  continually."  The  pre- 
vious circumstances  are  very  rapidly  told.  "The  sons  of 
God,"  it  is  said,  "saw  the  daughters  of  men,  that  they 
were  fair ;  and  they  took  them  wives  of  all  which  they 
chose."  That  is,  the  sons  of  Seth,  or  those  who  minister- 
ed before  the  cherubim,  married  the  daughters  of  Cain  ; 
and  were  ultimately  drawn  into  the  apostacy,  which  the 
first  born  of  our  race  had  commenced.  God,  who  had  long 
forborne  with  the  growing  infidelity,  at  length  proclaims — 
"  My  Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man  ;"  "I  will  de- 
stroy man,  whom  I  have  created,  from  the  face  of  the 
earth." 

Furthermore,  we  are  informed,  that  "  there  were  giants 
in  the  earth  in  those  days  ;  and  also  mighty  men,  and  men 
of  renown."  Whatever  influence  such  individuals  might 
wield,  or  for  whatever  high  and  lofty  enterprise  they  were 
qualified,  they  took  the  lead  in  iniquity.  "  The  earth  was 
filled  with  violence,"  and  "  all  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way 
before  the  Lord."  Noah  alone  "  found  grace  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Lord,"  being  "a  just  man  and  perfect  in  his  gene- 
rations ;  and  he  walked  with  God." 

The  apostle  Peter  alludes  to  these  melancholy  occurrences 
in  his  second  epistle,  when  he  would  forewarn  the  church 
of  coming  tribulations.  "There  were,"  says  he,  "false 
prophets  also  among  the  people,  even  as  there  shall  be  false 
teachers  among  you,  who  privily  shall  bring  in  damnable 
heresies,  even  denying  the  Lord  that  bought  them,  and 
bring  upon  themselves  swift  destruction.  For  if  God  spared 
not  the  angels  that  sinned" — the  messengers,  alluding  to 
the  official  men  whom  Moses  calls  the  sons  of  God — 
"  but  cast  them  down  to  hell,  (it  is  tartarus  in  the  original) 
and  delivered  them  into  chains  of  darkness,  to  be  reserved 


334  LECTURES  ON 

unto  judgment,  and  spared  not  the  old  world,  but  saved 
Noah,  the  eighth  person,  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  bring- 
ing in  the  flood  upon  the  world  of  the  ungodly — he  know- 
eth  how  to  deliver  the  godly  out  of  temptations,  and  to  re- 
serve the  unjust  unto  the  day  of  judgment,  to  be  punish- 
ed :  but  chiefly  them  that  walk  after  the  flesh  in  the  lust  of 
uncleanness,  and  despise  government.  Presumptuous  are 
they,  self-willed ;  they  are  not  afraid  to  speak  evil  of  dig- 
nities." 

Jude  is  even  more  explicit.  He  says — "  And  the  an- 
gels which  kept  not  their  first  estate — principality — but 
left  their  own  habitation,  he  hath  reserved  in  everlasting 
chains  under  darkness  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day. 
Even  as  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  the  cities  about  them, 
in  like  manner  to  these,  giving  themselves  over  to  forni- 
cation, and  going  after  strange  flesh,  are  set  forth  for  an  ex- 
ample, suffering  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire.  Likewise, 
also,  these  filthy  dreamers  defile  the  flesh,  despise  dominion, 
and  speak  evil  of  dignities. " 

The  phrase,  which  occurs  in  our  translation — in  like  man- 
ner— does  not  accurately  render  the  original ;  because  the 
masculine  pronoun,  which  has  no  antecedent  but  angels,  is 
left  out.  The  sentence  ought  to  read — in  like  manner  to 
these — meaning  these  angels  ;  as  any  one  may  easily  dis- 
cover by  turning  to  the  passage  in  the  greek  testament. 
Of  course,  the  angels,  who  kept  not  their  first  estate,  could 
not  be,  as  generally  supposed,  fallen  spirits  of  the  angelic 
hosts  ;  but  must  necessarily  be  the  sons  of  God,  or  the  offi- 
cial men  of  the  antediluvian  age.  The  term  angel  must, 
therefore,  be  understood  in  its  general  sense,  or  merely 
means  a  messenger  ;  a  sense  in  which  it  is  very  often  used. 
The  reference  to  these  individuals  being  thus  plain,  the  de- 
scription of  their  crimes  is  appropriate  enough.  They  de- 
ported themselves  like  the  sodomites,  and  were  not  only 
given  up  to  the  most  debasing  licentiousness,  but  W€re 

*  2  Pet.  ii.  1—10. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  335 

presumptuous,  despised  dominion,  and  spoke  evil  of  digni- 
ties;  or  they  set  at  nought  and  resisted  the  political  powers 
which  God  had  "ordained"  in  connexion  with  the  system 
of  government  previously  established.  They  might,  then, 
have  grown  haughty  and  insolent  enough  to  have  attempted 
an  invasion  of  this  hallowed  spot,  and  the  desecration  of 
these  hallowed  cherubic  emblems  of  the  mediatorial  consti- 
tution. And  as  fire  was  rained  down  from  heaven  upon 
the  guilty  sodomites,  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  some 
such  fiery  symbols  of  divine  vengeance  might  have  burst 
upon  them,  cleaving  fissures  in  the  ground,  whence  the 
waters  of  the  flood  issued. 

Whether  our  conjecture  be  correct  or  not,  the  pagan  tra- 
ditions relate  the  story  in  that  form.     To  give  the  account 
to  you  in  the  language  of  another: — "In  gentile  lore  the 
titans  or  giants,  are  described  as  being  the  offspring  of 
heaven  and  earth" — of  the  sons  of  God  and  daughters 
of  men,  as  Moses  would  say — "  but,  plunging  into  the  most 
audacious  wickedness,  they  madly  dared  to  scale  the  very 
mount  of  God,  and  to  wage  war  against  the  high  Majesty 
of  the  omnipotent.     Their  attempt,  however,  proved  abor- 
tive :  their  ranks  were  broken  by  hot  thunderbolts :  and 
they  were  precipitated  into  the  central  tartarus  where 
they  lie  bound  with  chains  of  brass  in  a  dungeon  of  ada- 
mant."    And  why  should  not  such  traditions  be  common? 
or  why  should  they  not  be  considered  worthy  of  attention, 
and  particularly  as  they  so  nearly  correspond  with  the  ac- 
counts given  by  Moses,  by  Peter,  and  by  Jude  ?     Gentiles 
and  jews  had  a  common  origin  ;  and  Moses  writes  with 
such  astonishing  brevity,  that  we  know  not  how  to  explain 
it,  unless  it  be  by  supposing  that  he  presumed  upon  the 
knowledge  of  the  facts,  carried  by  tradition  through  all  the 
world.  Putting  all  these  things  together,  it  would  seem  that 
the  paradisiacal  cherubim  formed  the  permanent  and  chief 
antediluvian  symbol  of  God's  gracious  designs  in  behalf  of 
the  children  of  men  ;  and  that  they  served  a  purpose,  anal- 


336  LECTURES  ON 

ogous  to  that  of  the  levitical  cherubim,  placed  in  a  taberna~ 
cle  among  the  children  of  Israel.* 

What  may  have  been  the  precise  import  of  these  four 
faces,  I  feel  myself  unable  to  determine.  They  certainly 
were  expressive  of  some  things  which  were  characteristic 
of  manldnd.  But  whether  they  referred  to  certain  attributes 
which  belong  to  man  in  general,  such  as  labor,  dominion, 
intelligence,  immortality;  or  whether  they  were  intended  to 
refer  to  certain  periods  in  the  history  of  man,  and  to  de- 
scribe the  character  of  official  men  during  those  periods, 
as  some  think  was  the  intention  of  the  living  creatures  in 
the  apocalypse  ;t  orwhether  they  were  designed  to  portray 
the  general  character  of  official  men  in  all  ages,  as  guided 
by  the  providence  of  Him  whom  Ezekiel  represents  as  en- 
throned above  the  firmament  in  "  the  likeness  of  a  man," 
I  cannot  clearly  satisfy  my  mind.  Mr.  Faber  supposes  these 
symbols  to  have  been  altogether  arbiirury.  I  cannot  agree 
with  his  view;  yet  I  can  offer  no  reasonable  conjectures, 
other  than  those  which  I  have  just  stated,  as  to  the  indi- 
vidual signification  of  the  animal  figures,  which  were  com- 
pounded together  in  this  singular  form. 

If  the  hypothesis  concerning  the  cherubim,  which  has 
been  stated,  and,  as  I  think,  proved,  in  the  preceding  para- 
graphs, be  correct,  it  prepares  the  way  for  the  considera- 
tion of  sacrifice,  as  a  divine  institution.  If  there  was 
such  a  permanent  emblem  of  the  divine  presence,  a  patri- 
archal and  antediluvian  shechinah  ;  or,  if  God  was  pleased, 
in  this  symbolic  manner,  to  tabernacle  with  Adam  and  his 
children  ;  then  some  external  services  must  have  devolved 
on  them,  as  they  sought  an  audience  before  Jehovah.  Call 

*  Any  one  who  wishes  to  see  the  suhject  of  the  cherubim  discussed 
at  large,  and  with  great  variety  of  talent  and  literature,  may  consult 
Parkhurst's  Heb.  Lex.  on  the  word  :  Faber's  Orig.  of  Pag.  Idol.  voL 
1,  pp.  403 — 464;  vol.  3,  pp.  602 — 661.  In  which  works  references 
may  be  found  to  others  which  I  have  not  seen  : — Bates,  Sharp,  Hutch- 
inson, Spencer,  Hales,  &c. 

t  See  Johnstone  on  the  Revelations,  iv.  7. 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  337 

back  our  argument  on  the  nature  and  necessity  of  religious 
forms.  The  cherubim,  situated  as  has  been  described, 
only  furnishes  the  tabernacle  as  inhabited  by  the  divine 
presence.  The  service,  appropriate,  expressive,  and  famil- 
iar, must  yet  be  provided.  What  was  that  service  ?  What 
religious  forms  did  it  prescribe  ?  Necessarily  compelled  to 
pursue  this  inquiry,  we  cannot  be  surprised  to  find  frequent 
allusions  and  instances  of  a  sacrificial  kind ;  while  yet  the 
ordinance  itself  may  not  have  been  distinctly  traced  by  the 
historian  to  its  origin.  Incidental  cases  are  enough.  The 
circumstance,  recorded  by  Moses,  that  "unto  Adam  and 
his  wife  did  the  Lord  God  make  coats  of  skins,  and  clothed 
them,"  which  has  often  given  rise  to  the  question,  Whence 
were  these  skins  obtained  ? — the  facts  which  occurred  in 
the  history  of  Cain  and  Abel,  and  which  are  stated  in  the 
fourth  chapter — the  subsequent  and  universal  practice  of 
offering  sacrifice — and  the  history  of  the  Mosaic  ritual — 
these  things,  combined  with  the  erection  of  the  paradisiacal 
tabernacle,  produce  irrefragable  demonstration,  that  this 
propitiatory  service  was  established  by  divine  authority. 

The  apostle  Paul  affords  a  coincident  view  when,  allu- 
ding to  these  early  transactions,  he  avers  that — "  By  faith 
Abel  offered  unto  God  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than 
Cain,  by  which  he  obtained  witness  that  he  was  righteous, 
God  testifying  of  his  gifts."  Sacrifice  at  that  period,  the 
sacrifice  of  life  in  the  worship  of  God,  is,  by  this  inspired 
commentator  declared  to  be  the  product  of  faith — to  be  a 
righteous  act — to  be  acceptable  to  Jehovah — and  to  have 
obtained  an  immediate  response  from  on  high.  God  did 
take  a  part  in  these  ,  transactions,  both  Moses  and  Paul 
being  witnesses.  Such  are  the  moral  connexions  which 
sacrifice  holds,  down  through  the  whole  biblical  history. 
They  appeared  when  Noah  builded  an  altar,  and  the  Lord 
"  smelled  an  odour  of  rest;"  as  also  when  Abraham,  on 
mount  Mori  ah,  received  the  approbation  of  the  angel, 
and  had  the  resurrection  from  the  dead  so  beautifully  por- 
Vol.  II.— 29 


338  LECTURES  ON 

trayed  to  him.  Both  were  official  men,  of  high  character 
and  holy  renown,  and  both  are  celebrated  as  being  "  the 
heir  of  the  righteousness  of  faith."  If  sacrifice  then  has 
been  so  intimately  and  so  constantly  associated  with  the 
mediatorial  system;  if  it  has  been  uniformly  recognised 
by  God,  and  has  ever  distinguished  holy  men,  any  doubt 
of  its  divine  original  must  be  worse  than  fastidious. 

But  further.  Sacrifice  has  been  enjoined  as  necessary 
all  over  the  world.  It  is  evident,  too,  that  the  right  exist- 
ed in  every  nation  before  the  commencement  of  authentic 
history ;  and  the  idea  that  the  gods  were  to  be  appeased 
in  this  manner,  was  as  general  as  the  rite  itself.  These 
facts  every  one  knows  who  has  any  acquaintance  with 
pagan  history,  or  gentile  mythology.  Certainly  a  practice 
so  singular  and  yet  so  universal,  must  be  traced  back  to 
some  common  origin ;  to  a  period  and  to  circumstances 
such  as  these  which  Moses  describes,  when  he  relates  that 
the  first  pair,  guilty  and  wretched,  approached  to  humble 
themselves  before  the  Lord.  No  room  is  left  for  the  ridi- 
culous charge  of  priestcraft,  seeing  that  Adam  was  priest 
in  his  own  family  ;  and,  as  other  priests  did  after  him,  of- 
fered sacrifice  at  his  own  expense.  Or,  as  Delany  has  ob- 
served— "After  this,  when  fathers  grew  up  into  princes, 
by  the  increase  of  their  families,  the  priesthood,  we  know, 
became  an  appendage  of  royalty :  and  sacrifices  were 
then  at  the  sacrificer's  expense. 

"We  also  know  that  libations  and  offerings  of  several 
kinds,  were  the  constant  practice  of  private  men  in  their 
own  families,  and  that  priests  had  no  perquisites  from 
them  :  nor  can  they,  with  any  color  of  reason,  be  suspect- 
ed to  have  had  any  emolument  of  any  kind  from  this 
practice,  in  any  region  of  the  earth,  till  more  than  two 
thousand  years  from  the  first  institution  of  this  rite  ;  though 
if  they  had,  it  is  evident  that  the  advantages  derived  upon 
any  particular  set  of  men,  from  any  practice,  are  far  from 
being  a  proof  that  such  a  practice  had  no  original  founda- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  339 

tion,  but  in  the  subtlety  and  interest  of  that  particular  set 
of  men.  In  truth,  the  supposition  is  as  absurd  as  any 
thing  can  well  be  imagined  to  be ;  and  will  affect  every  pro- 
fession under  heaven,  as  well  as  the  priesthood ;  from  the 
prince  on  the  throne  to  the  meanest  officer  and  artisan  in 
the  commonwealth ;  nay,  in  truth,  will  affect  every  pro- 
fession in  the  world  much  more  than  the  priesthood  ;  be- 
cause that  is  the  only  profession  which  Was  originally  dis- 
interested in  the  discharge  of  duty  proper  unto  it."* 

We  shall  reach  the  same  conclusion  if  we  inquire  into 
the  nature  and  design  of  the  sacrificial  rite.  Its  wisdom 
and  propriety  will  be  no  inconsiderable  adjuvants  in  sus- 
taining the  inference  drawn  from  its  universality,  and  from 
the  impossibility  of  tracing  its  origin,  without  following 
mankind  up  to  a  common  parentage.  But,  if  I  mistake 
not,  the  general  opinion  is  that  the  institution  is  altogether 
arbitrary;  that  it  results  neither  from  the  light  of  nature,  nor 
from  the  principles  of  reason  ;  and  that  there  is  no  discern- 
ible connexion  between  the  blood  of  a  slain  animal  and 
the  pardon  of  an  offender's  sin.  From  this  view  of  the 
divine  ordinance,  though  advanced  and  defended  by  men 
of  high  literary  character,  I  am  constrained  to  dissent.  I 
do  not  think  that  any  religious  institution  which  Jehovah 
has  established,  is  arbitrary.  There  is  a  reason,  good  and 
sufficient,  for  every  such  institution ;  a  reason  too,  which 
results  from  the  object  to  be  gained,  and  which  is  very 
near: — oftentimes  so  near  that  it  is  not  perceived,  merely 
because  we  are  ever  looking  after  something;  distant  and 
mysterious.  All  the  different  systems  which  God  has 
created,  and  all  the  different  parts  of  each  system,  are  ac- 
curately adjusted,  and  sustain  reciprocal  relations  most 
happily  arranged.  In  the  operations  of  established  law, 
both  physical  and  moral,  the  highest  confidence  may  be 

*  Delaney's  Rev.  Exam.  vol.  1.  p.  p.  129 — 30.  See  also  Faber'a 
Orig.  of  Pag.  Idol,  vol,  1,  p.  p.  465—496  ;  and  Faber's  Orig.  of  Exp, 
Sac, 


$40  LECTURES  ON 

reposed.     God  acts  upon  them,  and  men  must  reason  and 
decide  in  consistency  with  them. 

The  particular  institutions  which  belong  to  the  paradisia- 
cal state,  were  all  enforced  by  good  and  apparent  reasons. 
The  sabbath  was  intended  to  record  and  memorize  the 
creation  of  the  world,  and  to  wake  up  in  the  bosom  of 
man  all  those  feelings  with  which  that  subject  should  in- 
spire him.  The  social  relations  were  formed  because  it 
was  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone.  Man  was  entrusted 
with  dominion,  because  the  intellectual  powers  with  which 
he  was  endowed,  qualified  him  for  such  an  extended 
sphere  of  action ;  because  he  acts  by  means  of  secondary 
agents ;  and  because  he  was  made  in  the  image  of  God, 
whose  high  prerogative  it  is  to  govern  his  creatures,  and 
whose  glory  consists  in  conducting  his  administration  upon 
the  wisest  and  most  benevolent  principles.  The  institu- 
tions after  the  fall  must  be  equally  well  sustained.  The 
cherubim,  the  tabernacle,  and  the  accompanying  ritual, 
must  all  be  commended  to  the  human  mind  as  needful  and 
salutary.  Their  propriety  must  be  perceived,  and  be  suf- 
ficiently obvious  to  meet  every  objection  which  reason 
could  suggest,  or  unbelief  advance.  So  God  defended 
them  in  his  argument  with  Cain,  appealing  to  his  own 
good  sense,  and  comparing  the  evangelic  provisions  along 
with  the  ill-humored  complaints  of  the  haughty  and  dis- 
contented rebel. — "If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not  be 
accepted  ?  And  if  not,  a  sin-offering  coucheth  at  the 
door." 

In  like  manner  some  subsequent  changes  in  the  number 
or  the  appendages  of  the  divine  institutions,  are  explained 
by  a  reference  to  circumstances.  The  growth  of  society 
rendered  it  more  difficult  of  management,  and  required 
some  new  and  appropriate  regulations;  which  regulations, 
however,  .were  neither  proposed  nor  authorized,  until  the 
necessity  for  their  symbolical  action  had  occurred.  Within 
given   periods  excitement  seems  to  expend   itself;    and 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  341 

while  the  principles  of  moral  science  must  remain  the 
same,  yet  the  outward  forms,  under  which  they  are  ex- 
pressed, or  with  which  they  are  associated,  must  be  modi- 
fied. Both  God  and  man  seem,  by  providential  experi- 
ments, to  have  ascertained  the  necessity  for  such  periodical 
revolutions — or  ages,  as  they  have  been  called  in  both 
the  pagan  and  elect  worlds.  Read  the  antediluvian  and 
postdiluvian  histories ;  analyze  the  Mosaic  law,  which  is 
so  full  of  corrections  of  the  prevailing  corruptions  of  the 
nations,  and  of  allowances  on  account  of  Jewish  obsti- 
nacy. Look  at  the  occurrences  under  the  christian  dis- 
pensation; call  up  the  reformation  to  view,  and  witness 
the  present  perplexity  and  disquietude  when  the  church 
has  outgrown,  and  seeks  to  throw  off,  the  forms  of  past 
ages.  There  is  always  sufficient  reason  for  such  ritual 
and  political  changes;  and  while  they  have  been  foretold 
by  him  who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning,  they  are 
ever  ushered  in  by  signs,  competent  and  distinct. 

The  reasons  for  sacrifice  are  not  very  difficult  of  disco- 
very. Deny  its  primitive  enactment,  and  no  other  ordi- 
nance appears  to  take  its  place ;  while  yet  the  nature  of 
man,  and  the  uniform  mode  of  the  divine  proceeding  with 
him,  argue  the  necessity  of,  and  call  for,  some  religious 
forms,  by  which  men  should  visibly  profess  their  faith  and 
their  feelings,  and  which  would  be  acceptable  with  God. 
The  accompanying  facts,  developed  in  the  history  of 
Adam's  family,  as  well  as  that  of  all  other  ages,  become 
entirely  unaccountable;  or  exhibit- man  acting  consistently 
with  his  own  constitution,  while  God  himself  wholly  dis- 
regards it.  Nor  only  so.  But  Jehovah  had  put  man  un- 
der the  mediatorial  government,  by  declaring  that  "  the 
Seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  head  of  the  ser- 
pent;" and  yet  enjoined  no  duties  in  connexion  with  the 
gracious  system.  All  other  things  are  shadowed  out  by 
external  ceremony;  and  their  knowledge  is  both  preserved 
and  disseminated,  by  being  associated  with  the  actions  of 
23* 


342  LECTURES  ON 

mankind.  As  far  as  I  can  perceive,  there  is  no  subject  in 
reference  to  which  the  sceptic's  fears,  or  the  critic's  litera- 
ture, has  been  more  entirely  at  war  with  the  elements  of 
society,  or  the  facts  which  fill  up  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  sacrificial  institution  consisted  in  the  offering  up  of 
life,  with  a  view  to  the  pardon  of  sin.  By  sin  death  had 
just  been  introduced.  Scarcely  had  the  matter  been  ad- 
judicated, when  the  Lord  himself  clothed  the  transgres- 
sors with  coats  of  skin.  The  facts  connected  with  the  fall, 
the  remedy,  the  divine  actions  in  setting  up  the  taberna- 
cle and  clothing  our  first  parents,  are  all  crowded  to- 
gether, as  belonging  to  the  same  general  concern,  and  leave 
us  no  alternative.  We  must  interpret  the  ordinance  as  a 
divine  enactment,  and  explain  it  by  the  associations  in 
which  it  is  found.  Its  character  is  obviously  mediatorial. 
Its  reference  is  evidently,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  sin  of 
Adam,  by  which  death  had  been  incurred ;  and  on  the  other, 
to  the  death  of  Christ,  by  which  life  should  be  restored. 
And  it  would,  therefore,  readily  serve  as  a  divine  comment 
upon  the  present  state  of  the  world,  by  tracing  up  all  our 
sufferings  to  sin  as  their  cause;  while  it  would  be  equally 
explanatory  of  the  official  relations  of  the  promised  "  Seed 
of  the  woman."  There  is,  under  such  a  view  of  the  or- 
dinance, nothing  forced,  nor  far-fetched,  nor  arbitrary  about 
it.  It  is  evidently  natural,  appropriate,  and  expressive; 
and  on  the  supposition  that  moral  truth  must  be  symbol- 
ized to  the  human  mind,  it  was  necessary,  by  such  an  in- 
stitution, to  explain  the  moral  circumstances  of  mankind, 
as  well  as  the  remedial  provisions  of  divine  grace. 

Certain  it  is — while  Moses  appears  to  take  it  for  granted, 
that  the  nature  of  sacrifice,  as  it  had  existed  before  the 
Smaic  ritual  was  enacted,  was  fully  understood  in  its  re- 
ference to  the  practical  consequences  of  sin,  and  in  its  alli- 
ance with  the  doctrine  of  the  righteousness  of  faith — cer- 
tain it  is,  I  say,  that  he,  and  all  the  subsequent  scriptural 
writers  do  place  the  Mosaic  sacrifice  in  those  connexions. 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  343 

Under  the  law,  "without  the  shedding  of  blood  there  was 
no  remission."  Yet  it  never  was  pretended  that  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  of  goats  could  take  away  sin  ;  or  that  Jehovah 
had  any  pleasure  in  burnt-offerings,  on  their  own  account. 
All  these  things  were  merely  figures  for  the  time  then  pre- 
sent. The  Holy  Spirit,  who,  as  the  Spirit  of  prophecy,  is 
the  testimony  of  Jesus,  did  thereby  '-signify,"  or  exhibit  in 
typical  form,  "better  things  to  come."  With  this  inten- 
tion, these  sacrificial  services  resembled,  in  appearance, 
that  of  which  they  were  the  shadow.  The  offering  of  life, 
and  that  for  sin,  whereby  the  captain  of  our  salvation  was 
made  perfect,  could  not  have  been  otherwise  symbolized  ; 
nor  could  the  nature  of  the  divine  government,  as  connect- 
ing sin  and  death  on  the  one  hand,  and  righteousness  and 
life  on  the  other,  have  been  otherwise  significantly  set 
forth.  The  reason  of  the  Redeemer's  righteousness,  as  in- 
cluding his  sufferings,  is  very  plain  ;  and  that  of  the  pre- 
vious emblem  could  not  be  occult. 

But  the  grand  reason  of  any  institution,  is  to  be  found  in 
its  adaptation  to  produce  a  desired  effect.  If  there  is  no 
practical  efficiency  exerted,  if  as  an  actively  operating  cause 
it  accomplishes  nothing,  the  ordinance  is  useless.  In  the 
present  case,  legally  speaking,  righteousness  secures  life. 
Accordingly,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  all  men  are  brought  into  a  justification  of  life ;  and 
his  righteousness  is  preached  to  mankind  as  the  object  of 
their  faith.  Could  sacrifice  then,  or  did  it,  so  prefigure  the 
finished  work  of  the  Son  of  God,  as  to  serve  this  practical 
purpose,  and  lead  men  to  believe?  If  it  did,  the  reason, 
and  a  sufficient  reason,  for  the  institution,  immediately  pre- 
sents itself  to  every  one.  Accordingly  the  old  testament 
saints,  including  the  early  patriarchs,  are  distinguished  by 
their  faith  in  the  promised  Messiah.  They  looked  forward 
to  the  Redeemer's  day ;  sung  of  his  priestly  character,  of 
his  sacrificial  sorrows,  and  of  his  glorious  triumphs;  and  en- 
dured as  though  they  were  fully  persuaded  that  he  would 


344  LECTURES  ON 

appear  as  their  deliverer.     All  this  they  did,  in  connexion 
with  the  offering  of  sacrifice. 

But  again.  The  object  of  the  Redeemer's  righteousness 
was  to  place  mankind  in  a  situation  where  they  might  meet 
their  personal  responsibilities  ;  and  to  furnish  them  with  all 
necessary  facilities,  considering  "the  weakness  of  their 
flesh."  Their  obligations  would  then  call  upon  them  to 
forsake  sin,  and  do  that  which  is  right.  This  end  being 
accomplished,  the  designs  of  Jehovah,  in  view  of  the  ex- 
istence of  man,  are  answered.  Could  the  ancient  sacri- 
fice, typifying  Christ,  and  eliciting  the  operations  of  faith, 
exert  any  agency  in  instituting,  or  sustaining,  this  progres- 
sive sanctification  ?  If  it  could,  then  again  the  reason,  and 
a  sufficient  reason  too,  for  this  institution,  appears  with  great 
distinctness.  If  any  symbolic  rite  shall  accomplish  the 
most  valuable  purposes,  and  present  the  very  similitude  of 
the  object  desired,  what  more  can  be  demanded  in  legisla- 
ting for  man  ?  He  obtains  his  ideas  by  means  of  his  sen- 
ses ;  and  the  exhibition  which  is  capable  of  affording  to 
him,  through  those  senses,  the  very  ideas  which  he  needs, 
accords  precisely  with  the  peculiarities  of  his  nature.  That 
the  sacrificial  ceremony  did  occupy  this  very  place,  and  serve 
this  very  purpose,  is  evident  on  its  face ;  is  distinctly  un- 
folded in  history  ;  and  is  officially  announced  in  the  scrip- 
tures. How  then  can  biblical  critics  or  moral  philoso- 
phers assert  that,  this  rite  results  neither  from  the  light  of 
nature,  nor  the  principles  of  reason  ?  They  might  as  well 
represent  the  whole  mediatorial  system  to  be  unnatural  and 
irrational. 

Pardon  of  sin  was  confessedly  connected  with  the  sacri- 
ficial ordinance.  And  why  should  it  not  be  so  connected  ? 
If  its  legal  associations,  its  emblematic  allusions,  and  its 
practical  operations,  were  such  as  have  been  described,  par- 
don might  well  be  extended.  What  more  could  be  desir- 
ed than  faith  in  the  Saviour,  and  the  sanctification  of  the 
human   spirit?     Call   the  institution  by  what  name  you 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  345 

please,  apply  any  term  that  may  be  employed  to  express 
its  relations,  the  moral  is  very  plain.  The  difficulties  which 
critics  may  suggest,  or  philologists  exaggerate,  are  superfi- 
cial.— The  sanctification  of  the  human  mind  is  the  para- 
mount object  of  concern.  All  the  claims  of  the  divine  law 
quadrate  with  it,  and  every  perfection  of  Godhead  is  dis- 
played in  its  own  untarnished  glory,  when  the  reconciled 
man  is  brought  home  to  heaven,  redeemed  and  blessed.  If 
pardon  of  sin  shall  correspond  with  the  requisitions  of  the 
law,  and  with  sanctified  and  glorified  humanity,  no  reason 
can  be  assigned  why  pardon  should  be  withheld. 

Accordingly,  while  the  typical  sacrifice  is  represented  as 
an  atonement,  it  is  sustained  in  that  view,  only  because  it 
is  associated  with  the  reconciliation  or  sanctification  of  the 
human  mind.  Burnt-offerings,  presented  as  a  mere  formal- 
ity, Jehovah  again  and  again  most  indignantly  rejects. — 
"  Your  new  moons  and  your  appointed  feasts  my  soul  ha- 
teth  :  they  are  a  trouble  unto  me  ;  I  am  weary  to  bear  them. 
And  when  ye  spread  forth  your  hands,  I  will  hide  mine  eyes 
from  you :  yea,  when  ye  make  many  prayers,  I  will  not 
hear :  your  hands  are  full  of  blood.  Wash  you  ;  make  you 
clean ;  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before  mine 
eyes  ;  cease  to  do  evil ;  learn  to  do  well ;  seek  judgment ; 
relieve  the  oppressed;  judge  the  fatherless;  plead  for  the 
widow."  Let  your  own  good  sense  decide  ; — of  what  use 
can  a  sacrifice,  or  prayer,  or  any  other  form  be,  where  the 
moral  attributes,  which  should  distinguish  a  thinking  spi- 
rit, are  wanting?  But  if  such  forms  lead  man  to  think,  feel 
and  act  correctly ;  if  as  outward  means  they  represent  to 
him  moral  things  under  visible  symbol ;  if  they  become  the 
occasion  and  opportunity  of  his  expressing  his  own  desires 
and  intentions,  or  of  his  exemplifying  before  others  that 
which  is  right — what  rational  objection  can  be  urged  against 
them?  Or  if,  when  they  are  rejected,  the  very  principle 
of  human  action,  and  of  social  intercourse,  is  abandoned, 
by  what  argument  can  such  dereliction  be  justified  ? 


346  LECTURES  ON 

The  idea  of  merit  figures  so  largely  in  religious  contro- 
versy, and  is  so  distinctly  discerned  at  every  turn  we  take ; 
that  it  is  very  likely  it  may  have  distorted  the  views  which 
anxious  moralists  have  formed  on  the  subject  of  sacrifice. 
What  merit  can  there  be  in  a  burnt-offering  ?  Hecatombs 
might  smoke,  and  rivers  of  oil  might  flow,  but  what  merit 
would  be  evinced?  An  ordinance,  constructed  on  this  prin- 
ciple, cannot  be  traced  to  reason,  nor  to  the  light  of  nature. 
The  practical  effect  on  the  spirit  of  man,  produced  by  an 
excitement  that  is  created,  and  under  which  his  own  pow- 
ers are  called  out  into  action — an  effect  which  elevates 
while  it  sanctifies,  which  controls  the  lusts  of  the  flesh, 
overcomes  the  world,  and  enables  the  believer  to  rise  supe- 
rior to  temptation — is  the  only  object  which  regeneration 
can  contemplate.  This  effect  constitutes  the  worth  of  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  as  well  as  of  its  various  emblems, 
both  ancient  and  modern.  Discarding  this  theological  fig- 
ment of  merit,  or  substituting  the  loftier  thought  of  practi- 
cal agency  acting  consistently  with  our  intellectual  nature  ;. 
any  ordinance  might  command  confidence,  and  recom- 
pense the  heart  that  devotedly  ministers  under  its  direc- 
tion. This  idea,  duly  appreciated  and  conscientiously  sus- 
tained, can  alone  guaranty  the  contemplated  benefits  of 
religious  forms. 

With  all  the  light  that  the  new  dispensation  affords,  the 
nature  of  its  ordinances,  simple  and  expressive  as  they  are, 
has  been  misapprehended.  Theologians  have  commenced 
their  argument  on  erroneous  principles  ;  and  those  princi- 
ples throw  their  shade  over  every  matter  belonging  to  the 
systems,  of  which  they  are  a  part.  By  Adam's  sin,  all 
men  are  brought  into  temporal,  spiritual,  and  eternal  death, 
we  have  been  taught.  Consequently  all  personal  respon- 
sibility is  absorbed  in  the  imputation  of  that  sin.  Then 
again,  a  corresponding  operation  is  predicated  of  Christ's 
righteousness  in  relation  to  the  elect;  and  personal  respon- 
sibility is  merged  in  a  second  imputation.     Many,  it  is  true, 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  347 

have  condemned  this  doctrine  ;  but  I  do  not  see  that  they 
have  fairly  and  fully  met  the  argument  of  its  advocates. 
How  should  they  ?  Both  parties  start  from  the  same  point, 
and  carry  with  them  the  same  original  principles ;  and  the 
doctrine  referred  to,  casts  its  gloom  over  every  theory  with 
which  it  is  brought  into  contact. 

Look  at  the  facts.  Baptism  has  been  represented  by 
some  to  be  regeneration.  By  others,  it  has  been  de- 
clared altos-ether  irrational  to  administer  that  ordinance  to 
infants  ;  because,  it  is  said,  they  cannot  understand  the 
objects  proposed.  A  type  or  symbol  cannot  be  the  iking, 
which  is  typified  or*  symbolized ;  and  methinks,  any  one 
might  discern  that  it  is  therefore  utterly  impossible,  that 
baptism  should  be  regeneration.  And  if  the  blessing  sym- 
bolized by  baptism,  may  be  brought  to  infants,  there  can  be 
no  impropriety  in  administering  the  symbol,  which  is  nothing 
more  than  an  outward  exhibition  of  that  blessing. — "The 
promise  is  to  you  and  your  children;" — "of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  Thus  the  scriptures  often  speak, 
endeavoring  to  impress  on  the  minds  of  the  religious  com- 
munity, a  sense  of  the  interest  which  Jehovah  takes  in  their 
offspring.  On  what  principle  then,  can  an  outward  sym- 
bol of  that  interest  be  rejected  as  improper  and  absurd  ? — 
Without  touching  the  question,  whether  baptism  has  been 
a  designed  substitute  for  circumcision,  I  yet  call  up  the  fact 
that  Jewish  children  were  circumcised  ;  while  it  was  utter- 
ly impossible  that  they  should  understand  its  import,  as  a 
"  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  faith."  But  circumcision 
was  a  symbol,  shadowing  out  certain  blessings,  as  consti- 
tuting an  inheritance  in  which  parents  and  their  children 
had  a  common  right.  If  one  instance  of  such  a  use  of  an 
external  religious  form,  has  occurred,  and  that  under  the 
positive  direction  of  Jehovah  himself;  surely  they  have 
gone  far  astray,  who  pronounce  a  second  instance  to  be  ab- 
surd. But  that  instance  stands  not  alone.  All  our  chil- 
dren live  under  the  light  of  sun,  moon  and  stars  ;  they  en- 


348  LECTURES  ON 

joy  the  protection,  and  feast  upon  the  bounties  of  a  divine 
providence,  most  profoundly  philosophical  in  all  its  opera- 
tions ;  while,  perhaps,  neither  they  nor  their  parents  un- 
derstand any  thing  of  the  accurate  and  varied  connexion 
between  cause  and  effect,  which  is  so  constantly  and  mi- 
nutely exhibited.  This  dogma,  if  carried  out,  would  stop 
the  course  of  nature,  and  leave  mankind  to  starve  and  die, 
unless  they  should  become  philosophers.  It  is  mournful 
to  observe  how  inconsiderately  men  reason  on  religious 
subjects,  when  they  have  some  sectarian  trifle  to  sustain. 
They  forget  the  analogies  of  nature,  and  drop  entirely  the 
most  familiar  principles  belonging  to  physics,  the  moment 
they  enter  the  region  of  morals.  It  is  no  wonder  there  are 
so  many  sectaries,  and  so  many  controversies.  Thus  men 
close  their  eyes  on  the  constituent  elements  of  the  divine 
works,  and  then  undertake  to  explain  them.  These  two 
views  of  baptism,  which  I  have  quoted,  seem  to  me  to  be 
very  much  alike.  They  both  mistake  the  type  for  the 
thing  typified. 

The  Lord's  supper  has  been  treated  in  the  same  man- 
ner. The  bread  has  been  represented  to  be  the  literal 
flesh,  and  the  wine  to  be  the  literal  blood,  of  the  Re- 
deemer. Here  the  misconstruction  is  so  palpable  and  egre- 
gious, that  it  is  matter  of  wonder,  that  christian  ears  should 
ever  have  heard  it  uttered.  But,  even  those,  whose  pre- 
judices call  for  no  such  impropriety,  and  who  instantly  re- 
ject it  when  stated,  feel  all  the  superstitious  awe  which  that 
view  of  the  ordinance  would  inspire.  Many  have  refused 
to  commemorate  the  Saviour's  death  through  a  long  life, 
who  have  mourned  over  and  anxiously  sought  to  correct 
their  error,  when  on  a  bed  of  death  ;  as  though  the  ele- 
ments really  possessed  some  intrinsic  virtue  to  save  the 
soul,  in  the  last  extremity.  Others  comply  with  the  in- 
junction ;  but  year  after  year  they  approach  the  table  with 
trembling  steps,  and  handle  the  symbols  with  fearful  hearts, 
as  though  they  were  about  to  "eat  and  drink  damnation" 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  349 

to  themselves.  Their  single  inquiry  is — "  am  I  a  christian?" 
A  very  important  question,  it  is  true.  The  ordinance  should 
certainly  be  observed  in  a  becoming  manner,  and  with  pro- 
per views  and  feelings.  But  an  inquiry,  embracing  such 
like  matters,  belongs  to  every  duty  we  perform,  to  every 
trial  we  endure,  and  to  every  privilege  we  enjoy.  Man, 
as  personally  responsible,  should  possess  a  spiritual  mind, 
sanctified  affections,  and  a  good  conscience  in  all  things. 
The  question  here  is,  wherein  is  the  Lord's  supper  distin- 
guished 1  or  what  is  its  peculiarity  ?  That  peculiarity 
should  be  the  special  matter  of  thought,  when  we  consider 
the  obligation  which  the  ordinance  imposes  on  us.  There- 
in the  Lord  Jesus  symbolically  exhibits  himself  as  crucified 
for  us,  as  loving  us  unto  the  death,  and  giving  himself  for 
us.  There  is  nothing  so  alarming  in  this,  that  the  people 
should  be  afraid  to  draw  nigh,  and  contemplate  and  enjoy 
the  testimony,  or  representation,  of  his  love."  On  our  part, 
he  requires,  that  we  should  "  show  forth,"  proclaim,  herald, 
or  preach,  his  death;  with  a  view  of  exciting  the  attention, 
and  achieving  the  reformation,  of  those  who  are  around  us. 
What  is  there  either  painful,  or  forbidding,  in  a  ceremony 
which  looks  to  such  results?  Are  you  a  patriot,  and  do  you 
love  your  country  ?  Are  you  a  father,  and  do  you  love  your 
children  ?  Are  you  a  friend,  and  do  you  love  your  compa- 
nions ?  Would  you  not  seek  their  welfare  ?  Are  you  afraid 
to  let  them  understand  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  and 
that  he  died  for  you  ?  Or  would  you  lead  them,  by  absent- 
ing yourselves  on  such  occasions,  to  suppose,  that  you  do 
not  believe  in  the  Saviour  of  the  world?  Or  as  long  as  you 
do  not  keep  this  sacramental  feast,  do  you  not  feel  that  the 
obligation,  to  live  a  holy  life,  is  comparatively  light  ? 

But  the  view  of  the  Lord's  supper,  implied  in  the  pre- 
ceding observations,  is  too  simple  for  the  popular  feeling  on 
the  subject.  It  is  not  mystical  enough  to  be  acceptable, 
where  early  impressions  and  sectarian  prejudices  reign, 
with  their  supreme  and  desolating  sway.  The  bread  must 
Vol.  II.— 30 


350  LECTURES  ON 

be  the  literal  body,  and  the  wine  the  literal  blood,  of  our 
crucified  Redeemer,  some  how  or  other :  not  admitted,  but 
most  positively  denied,  in  words ;  yet  in  practical  effect 
most  deeply,  however  unconsciously,  felt.  To  inspect  the 
real  feelings  of  the  heart,  and  be  aware  of  all  the  subtlety 
of  the  motives  it  may  secretly  recognise,  is  a  process  of 
self-examination,  which  few  have  either  moral  vigor  or 
discrimination  enough  to  carry  fairly  out.  If  the  fact  be 
not  as  I  have  stated,  the  remark  must  have  so  much  veri- 
similitude, that  it  would  be  difficult  to  distinguish  its  differ- 
ence from  any  other  view  which  can  be  truly  asserted. 

A  similar  misinterpretation  of  an  outward  ordinance,  or 
an  official  agency,  attends  the  ideas  which  have  been  in- 
dulged in  relation  to  the  ministry  of  reconciliation.  They 
have  been  invested  with  the  power  to  forgive  sins,  and  ab- 
solve the  ignorant,  but  troubled,  offender.  A  beautiful  offi- 
cial gradation  has  been  invented,  which  conducts  the  eye 
of  an  admiring  and  unsuspecting  professor  up  from  a  sim- 
ple deacon,  by  a  race  of  bishops  and  archbishops,  until  you 
reach  the  pope  himself.  The  most  splendid  revenues  have 
sustained  a  most  heartless  sinecure  ;  and  a  priestly  domi- 
nation has  beggared  the  conscience  of  the  saints.  Even 
where  such  proud  prentensions  have  been  courageously  as- 
sailed, still  a  fragment,  if  rot  the  whole,  of  the  wilting  po- 
licy has  beeji  preserved.  The  sectary  follows  the  dictation 
of  the  councils  that  belong  to  his  party ;  and  views  their 
books  as  the  consecrated  relics  of  gigantic  and  saintly  minds. 
It  has  not  been  lorg  since  it  was  thought  a  sin,  worthy  of 
exemplary  discipline,  for  a  member  of  one  denomination 
to  hear  a  minister  belonging  to  another.  And  even  now, 
it  may  be  viewed  as  extremely  hazardous  to  listen  to,  or  to 
read,  an  argument,  which  may  have  been  prejudged,  and 
censured  as  aside  of  ordinary  rule  or  a  prescribed  and  idol- 
ized formularly.  How  important,  but  how  completely  mis- 
placed, are  external  ordinances !  How  can  the  human  mind 
enlarge,  or  the  human  conscience  acquire  vigor,  under  such 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  351 

an  ecclesiastical  administration  ?  Personal  responsibility  is 
the  costly  sacrifice,  which  multitudes  have  offered  on  this 
altar  of  idolatrous  ceremony.  If  no  warning  can  obtain  an 
audience,  why — be  it  so.  Under  such  circumstances — 
Jesus  wept. — Ere  long  the  w'orld  will  weep. 

If  we  interpret  new  testament  ordinances  on  such  prin- 
ciples, it  is  no  wonder,  that  a  difficulty  has  been  felt  on  the 
subject  of  the  early  sacrifice  ;  or  that  a  discussion,  in  refer- 
ence to  it,  should  have  assumed  the  form  of  an  inquiry — 
whether  it  corresponded  with  reason  ?  or  whether  it  could 
be  derived  from  the  light  of  nature  ?  But  literary  and  liber- 
al men  would  have  saved  themselves  from  a  mere  verbal 
argument,  and  would  have  rendered  a  more  substantial  ser- 
vice to  the  religious  community,  if  they  had  expended 
the  effort,  which  they  have  made  in  a  half-religious  and 
half-literary  controversy,  on  the  original  sacrifice,  or  on  the 
mistaken  views  of  christian  ordinances,  that  have  rendered 
us  all  so  superstitiously  timid. 

One  question  more  remains.  Jehovah-Elohim  is  repre- 
sented to  have  created  this  paradisiacal  tabernacle,  in  which 
the  cherubim  were  placed,  at  the  east  end  of  the  garden ; 
and  to  have  made  the  coats  of  skin,  in  which  our  first  pa- 
rents were  clothed.  In  what  form — the  form  of  God,  or 
the  form  of  man — did  he  officially  act  at  that  time  ?  It  may 
readily  be  answered,  that  if  the  curse  had  not  yet  been 
executed,  though  it  had  been  pronounced  ;  or  if  the  ground 
had  not  yet  been  thrown  under  that  physical  influence 
which  rendered  it  an  instrument  of  death ;  Adam  might 
have  still  beheld  the  original  form,  under  which  Jehovah 
was  manifested  unto  him.  But  whether  the  curse  had  then 
been  executed  or  not,  it  has  been  already  observed,  that 
change  is  the  property  of  form;  that  Christ  was  transfigured^ 
changed  his  form,  or  was  metamorphosed,  before  his  dici- 
ples ;  that  Eve  said — I  have  gotten  a  man,  Jehovah  his 
very  self;  and  that  such  appearances,  in  human  form,  were 
afterwards  presented  to  the  early  patriarchs,  in  Jehovah's 


352  LECTURES  ON 

official  transactions  with  them  ;  as  well  as  that  the  ideas  of 
a  virgin-born  Saviour,  or  various  emanations  from  the  gods 
in  the  form  of  man,  were  common  among  the  heathen — all 
which  no  one  can  trace  up,  more  than  he  can  trace  up  sa- 
crifice, or  explain  the  cherubic  symbols,  and  the  sacred 
mounts  and  tabernacles,  without  arriving  at  this  early  scene 
that  has  given  rise  to  our  present  question.  The  ordinances 
then  created,  gave  to  religious  services  all  the  character 
and  peculiarities  they  sustained,  throughout  the  world  till 
Christ  came. 

In  either  case,  it  appears  to  me,  that  every  difficulty  is 
removed  ;  and  that  the  direct  agency,  attributed  to  Jeho- 
vah-Elohim  in  these  matters,  is  satisfactorily  explained. 

CONCLUSION. 

.  I  have  finished  the  proposed  analysis  of  the  first  three 
chapters  of  Genesis ;  and  have  discussed  the  various  gene- 
ral principles  of  the  government  of  God,  which  those  chap- 
ters present  to  our  view.  If  you  have  carefully  attended 
to  the  doctrines  I  have  advanced,  you  must  have  discover- 
ed that  no  essential  evangelical  truth  has  been  questioned. 
The  form,  in  which  the  subjects  belonging  to  both  law 
and  gospel  have  been  stated,  may  be  very  different  from 
that,  with  which  you  are  familiar ;  but  the  things  them- 
selves have  been  very  distinctly  asserted,  and  very  earnest- 
ly advocated. 

My  only  crime  is,  that  I  have  attempted  to  explain  the 
system  of  Christianity,  by  going  back  to  "the  beginning" 
as  the  great  prophet  himself  did ;  and  to  offer  some  argu- 
ment in  elucidation  and  defence  of  its  doctrines,  which  I 
have  thence  derived,  and  which  I  have  supposed  to  be  ra- 
tional and  demonstrative.  A  mighty  offence  truly,  that  the 
abandonment  of  Christianity  should  be  inferred  !  God  for- 
bid, that  I  should  not  "  hold  the  Head." — "  God  forbid 
that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the   cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  353 

Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto 
the  world."— God  forbid  that  I  should  "know  any  thing 
among  you  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified."  "  For 
I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ ;  for  it  is  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation,  to  every  one  that  belie  veth  ; 
to  the  jew  first,  and  also  to  the  greek."  Any  accusation, 
which  would  rapidly  and  harshly  arraign  my  ministrations, 
and  condemn  my  well  intentioned  efforts  to  explain  "  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  would  be  both  unkind  and  unright- 
eous. "But  with  me  it  is  a  very  small  thing  that  I  should 
be  judged  of  man's  judgment."  Long  since  have  I  com- 
mitted myself  and  my  ministry  to  the  providential  care  of 
the  Master  himself:  and  with  him  am  I  still  willing  to  leave 
the  high  official  interests,  which  have  assigned  the  present 
task.  But  it  has  become,  by  a  vast  deal,  too  common  for 
professors  to  criticise  the  personal  religion  of  those  around 
them;  and  by  doing  it,  they  have  but  too  often,  and  most  un- 
warily, exposed  their  own  gross  deficiencies. 

Had  I  supposed,  however,  in  framing  and  delivering  such 
a  systematic  arrangement  of  scriptural  subjects,  as  has  been 
pronounced  in  your  hearing ;  about  ^ich  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  seeming  novelty  ;  and  which,  step  by  step,  conflicts 
with  so  many  sectarian  prejudices,  and  long  established  max- 
ims— had  I  supposed,  that  the  whole  should  have  been  at 
once  fully  apprehended  and  accurately  repeated,  I  should 
have  betrayed  my  utter  ignorance  of  the  intellectual  and 
moral  character  of  religious  society.  Living  in  an  age  when 
an  old  excitement  has  run  down,  and  when  a  new  one. 
whose  causes  and  extent  are  scarcely  perceived,  is  carrying 
forward  the  human  mind  to  act  under  a  different  social  or- 
ganization— undertaking  a  serious  discussion  of  elemental 
principles,  when  so  many  others  are  seeking  to  control  so- 
ciety by  reiterated  appeals  to  feeling,  or  are  inducing  an 
expenditure  of  public  zeal  in  social  combinations — and 
even  questioning  the  wisdom  and  policy  of  many  of  the 
popular  movements,  from  which  almost  every  one  tells  me 
30* 


354  LECTURES  ON 

so  much  good  is  proceeding — the  most  I  could  expect 
would  be  attention,  toleration,  and  candor.  How  far  even 
these  have  been,  or  may  yet  be  awarded,  in  response  to  a 
course  of  lectures,  which  possibly  might  be  prejudged  and 
unhesitatingly  condemned,  even  while  they  were  unheard, 
I  shall  leave  to  your  own  judgment  to  decide.  Read  so- 
ciety for  yourselves.  The  principles  of  sectarian  policy 
are  not  very  deep.  Its  story  is  too  old,  and  has  been  too 
often  recited  on  the  theatre  of  ecclesiastical  strife  while  its 
advocates  have  too  frequently  outwitted  themselves,  and 
too  visibly  desolated  the  high  and  holy  interests  committed 
to  their  charge,  for  any  reflecting  man  to  be  deceived.  Harsh 
and  cruel,  disingenuous  and  uncandid,  imperious  and  un- 
relenting, it  shall  have  its  own  reward  ;  and,  sooner  or 
later,  be  overtaken  by  a  retributive  providence.  The  Lord 
himself  will  institute  a  righteous  inquisition ;  when,  as 
Jesus  said  to  his  disciples,  in  reference  to  the  envious  pha- 
risees — "  Every  plant,  which  my  heavenly  Father  hath  not 
planted,  shall  be  rooted  up."  In  all  our  collisions,  or  in 
the  excitement  of  temper  and  the  crimination  and  recrimi- 
nation to  which  the^may  lead,  we  should  every  one  habit- 
ually recollect,  that  the  Lord  himself  is  judge  over  all  the 
earth. 

If,  in  the  course  of  the  discussion  which  I  have  pursued, 
any  remark  has  escaped  me,  which  may  be  justly  censured 
as  giving  unnecessary  offence,  or  wantonly  inflicting  pain ; 
if  I  have  proved  myself  reckless  of  any  brother's  feelings 
or  interests,  and  thus  swerved  from  the  integrity,  or  cor- 
rupted the  purity,  of  the  ministerial  character,  I  am  not 
above  craving  pardon.  He  who  was  "in  the  form  of  God 
and  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  but  took  upon  him  the 
form  of  a  servant  and  was  found  in  the  likeness  of  men," 
thus  humbled  himself,  on  purpose  to  teach  us — "That  no- 
thing should  be  done  through  strife  or  vain  glory ;  and  that 
in  lowliness  of  mind,  each  should  esteem  others  better  than 
themselves."     If  truth  be  severe,  and  reflections  on  the 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  .355 

character  and  tendency  of  public  doings,  uttered  for  the 
sake  of  needful  and  seasonable  illustration,  be  considered 
offensive ;  I  can  only  reply,  that  while  the  sense  of  duty 
was  thus  evinced,  and  an  appeal,  unreserved  and  fearless, 
was  thus  made  to  your  understandings,  nothing  unkind  was 
intended.  If  I  were  conscious  of  the  power  to  avenge 
any  supposed,  or  real,  offence,  }'et  I  should  consider  the  op- 
portunity that  invited  its  exercise,  as  aloud  and  peremptory 
call  scrupulously  to  analyze  the  feelings  of  my  own  heart. 
A  more  salutary  or  important  lesson  has  not  been  taught 
us,  than  that  which  the  Redeemer  thus  pointedly  expresses 
— V  If  ye  forgive  not  men  their  trespasses,  neither  will  vour 
Father  forgive  your  trespasses."  No  intention,  not  even 
the  slightest,  has  been  cherished,  throughout  the  preceding 
observations,  to  wound  any  man's  feelings,  to  injure  any 
man's  standing,  to  curtail  any  man's  influence,  or  in  any 
way  to  indulge  in  unhandsome  and  fretting  personalities. 
My  contest  has  been  with  principles,  and  not  with  men  :  and 
if  I  have  spoken  of  theologians,  I  have  merely  used  a  gene- 
ral term,  without  designing  to  make  personal  allusions. — 
Though  utterly  unconscious  that  such  an  apology  for  any 
hasty  expression  of  feeling  is  necessary ;  yet,  if  it  be  ne- 
cessary, I  cheerfully  make  it. 

Again,  dear  brethren,  suffer  me  to  remind  you,  that  I  am 
not  attempting,  by  any  show  of  artful  reasoning,  to  make  a 
stealthy  approach  to  a  lordship  over  your  consciences.  I 
covet  no  influence,  but  that  which  truth  awards ;  or  which 
the  Master,  in  his  own  holy  and  condescending  providence, 
would  sanction  and  bless.  "A  man,"  said  John  the  bap- 
tist, when  certain  disputants  would  rouse  his  jealousies  on 
account  of  his  Master's  apparent  popularity — "a  man  can 
receive  nothing,  except  it  be  given  him  from  heaven."  I 
have  no  secret  policy  to  sustain,  nor  painful  misgivings  to 
conceal.  Your  submissive  credence  is  not  asked  to  any 
thing  of  which  you  are  not  personally  convinced.  When 
Noah,  Job,  or  Daniel,  could  save  neither  son  nor  daughter 


356  LECTURES  ON 

by  their  righteousness  ;  it  would  be  the  height  of  folly  and 
impiety,  for  any  man,  to  decoy  you  from  a  distinct  and  lofty 
sense  of  your  personal  responsibility,  by  setting  forth  his 
own  vicarious  pretensions  ;  or  to  seek  to  convert  your  love 
of  truth  into  an  idolatrous  confidence  in  himself.  No, 
brethren,  no.  You  must  search  the  truth  for  yourselves ; 
and,  by  individual  fellowship  with  the  Father,  and  his  Son, 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  become  conscious  of  the  evangelic 
realities  which  have  been  set  before  you.  If  any  respect 
or  affection,  which  you  may  have  invariably  extended  to 
me  for  my  work's  sake,  should  avail  to  rouse  you  to  de- 
liberate and  pra3*erful  thought  ;  and,  if  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus  should  leave  its  hallowing  and  heavenly  impres- 
sions on  your  own  spirits,  I  could  neither  ask,  nor  desire, 
more.  The  services  I  render,  are  purely  ministerial ;  pre- 
parative to  higher  relations  in  glory  ;  and  without  the  most 
distant  desire  after  artificial  importance,  or  ghostly  power. 
I  beseech  you,  in  the  language  of  our  beloved  Lord — "  Call 
no  man  your  Father  on  the  earth  :  for  one  is  your  Father, 
which  is  in  heaven.  Neither  be  ye  called  Masters  ;  for 
one  is  your  Master,  even  Christ." 

I  may  be  wrong.  The  theory  that  has  been  exhibited  to 
your  view,  may  be  very  defective.  Should  such  be  the 
fact,  the  investigation  which  has  yielded  the  principles  of 
christian  philosophy  here  carefully  developed,  has  distinctly 
taught  me,  that  a  christian  man  should  ever  preserve  his 
mind  open  to  conviction  ;  and  be  ready  to  receive  truth 
from  whatever  source  it  may  be  derived.  Progress  in 
knowledge  is  as  much  a  characteristic  of  christian  living, 
as  progress  in  holiness  can  be.  The  controvertist,  who — 
"  muffled  in  the  zeal  and  infallibility  of  his  own  sect,  will 
not  touch  a  book  nor  enter  into  debate  with  a  person  that  will 
question  any  of  those  things  which  to  him  are  sacred" — who 
boasts  that  he  has  passed  from  childhood  to  a  man's  estate, 
without  ever  changing  his  views — who  thinks  that  the  mere 
fact  of  such  a  change  is  a  disgraceful  dereliction — and  who 


MORAL   GOVERNMENT.  357 

solemnly  determines  that  he  never  will,  while  he  lives,  al- 
ter his  ideas — may  have  learned  his  catechism  well,  and  may 
have  received  a  very  distinct  impression  from  the  signet  of 
sectarian  authority;  or,  with  peculiar  accuracy,  and  en- 
thusiastic fondness, 

"  May  grind  divinity  of  other  days 
Down  into  modern  use  •J"t 

but  he  is  the  mere  child  of  early  prejudice.  He  has  not 
reviewed  the  course,  nor  ascertained  the  value,  of  ever- 
changing  circumstances,  under  which  God  himself  may 
have  modified  all  his  providential  proceedings.  A  higher 
service  could  not  be  rendered  to  such  a  man,  than  to  in- 
duce him  carefully  to  examine  his  creed,  and  diligently 
to  study  himself  :  or  to  apprize  him  that  he  has  taken  on 
trust,  what  he  supposes  himself  to  know.  He  mistakes  his 
talent ;  overrates  his  strength  ;  finds  fault  without  the  pow- 
er of  defending  his  inconsiderate  remarks;  becomes  "ex- 
ceedingly mad"  when  he  cannot  answer;  and  gets  rid  of 
his  difficulties,  by  refusing  to  look  at  them.  Minds,  thus 
unhappily  drilled,  were  readily  preoccupied  by  false  views 
mistaken  for  vital  religion,  and  crucified  their  long-promis- 
ed Messiah.  Such  minds  revolted  from  the  simplicity  of 
the  gospel,  and  succumbed  to  papal  jurisdiction,  when  the 
reformers  called  them  to  contemplate  and  confide  in  the 
righteousness  of  the  Son  of  God.  Such  minds  are  never 
prepared  for  the  revolutions  through  which  society  must 
necessarily  pass ;  nor  have  they  grasped  the  political  prin- 
ciples on  which  society  is  constructed.  And  if  they  are 
now  mingling  in  the  controversies  which  are  abroad  in  the 
earth,  the  millennium  itself,  as  the  coming  period  of  intel- 
lectual, but  earthly,  glory,  is  often  denominated,  will  lose 
its  beauty  and  interest  in  their  eyes.  I  pray  you,  look  well 
to  this  matter;  personally  and  honestly  investigate  it,  as 
though  it  could  not  require  too  great  an  expenditure  of 
thought,  or  be  too  often  associated  with  humble  and  anx- 


358  LECTURES  ON 

ious  prayer.  To  repeat  it — I  may  be  wrong  ;  and,  if  so, 
should  be  thankful  to  be  corrected.  But  more  will  be  ne- 
cessary to  produce  this,  than  mere  dictatorial  assertion,  or 
authoritative  criticism.  These  are  very  common  in  theo- 
logical circles,  and  can  affect  no  one  who  understands  his 
subject,  or  has  any  respect  for  himself.  On  such  high  con- 
cerns no  man  may  be  magisterial. 

Yet  even  if  the  theory  advanced  be  inaccurate,  there  is 
no  principle  urged,  nor  doctrine  stated,  about  which  chris- 
tian men  and  ministers,  both  good  and  intelligent,  have  not 
differed  in  opinion.  In  every  age,  almost,  have  these  sub- 
jects been  freely  canvassed  ;  and  different  sects  have  never 
gained  any  thing  by  their  long  cherished  hostilities.  Cal- 
vinists  and  arminians,  established  and  dissenting  churches, 
have  alike  to  look  back  with  complacency  upon  a  long  line 
of  revered  and  holy  men,  who  lived  like  saints ;  and  died 
like  soldiers  of  the  cross,  reposing  in  the  arms  of  the  great 
Captain  of  their  salvation.  And  why  may  not  men  differ 
now,  as  well  as  heretofore,  and  still  be  loved  and  hailed  as 
brethren  ?  Why  all  this  contention  ?  On  what  moral  prin- 
ciple is  it,  I  pray  you,  that  a  man  may  not  utter  and  main- 
tain his  sentiments,  because  his  brother,  frail  and  fallible 
like  himself,  happens  to  espouse  different  sentiments  ?  Is 
it  really  a  fact,  that  a  professor,  who,  thinking  for  himself, 
cannot  coincide  with  the  majority,  has  therefore  abandoned 
the  gospel,  and  turned  traitor  to  the  Prince  of  peace  ?  Is 
mind  to  be  scorned  and  scouted,  when,  appearing  near  the 
altars  of  the  Son  of  God,  she  asks  after  the  reason  of  his 
institutions  ?  Are  immortal  spirits,  on  their  way  to  an  ever- 
lasting communion  with  intellectual  beings,  to  be  con- 
demned as  criminal,  because  they  would  learn  to  think  un- 
der the  superintending  care  of  the  Holy  Spirit?  Are  we 
to  be  told  in  pettish  and  angry  tones — "all  these  topics, 
which  are  necessarily  deeply  mysterious,  have  been  exam- 
ined  a  thousand  times  before;  and  no  one  may  be  pre- 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  359 

sumptuous  enough  to  hope  that  he  shall  throw  the  smallest 
portion  of  light  on  the  interesting  but  perplexing  themes  ?" 
Shall  the  promise  of  divine  teaching  inspire  no  confidence  ? 
and  is  every  one  bound  down  under  an  irreversible  fate, 
which  renders  it  impossible  for  the  human  mind  to  appre- 
hend, or  explain,  that  which  God  has  professedly  revealed? 
If  certain  premises  infallibly  lead  to  unhappy  and  distract- 
ing conclusions,  shall  we  be  forbidden  to  inquire  after  the 
accuracy  and  wisdom  of  those  premises  ?     Or,  finding  that 
they   have    been   unquestioned    and    unexamined,   down 
through  a  long  line  of  theological  writers,  and  multitudes 
of  generations,  who  were  prohibited  the  use  of  every  guide 
save  some   artificial  system,  or  "permanent  creed,"  shall 
the  mighty  aggregate  of  tremulous  and  submissive  disci- 
ples foreclose  inquiry,  and  compel  us  to  receive  what  we 
do  not  understand,   and  dare  not  investigate  ?     They  who 
can  abide  such  intellectual  vassalage,  must  be  left  to  enjoy 
their  unenvied  immunities  ;  and  to  nurse  their  prejudices, 
and  sustain  their  personal  religion,  by  an  overaction  both 
imprudent  and  hurtful.     Every  pure  and  holy  mind  would 
long  to  enjoy  abetter  companionship,  and  a  holier  intercourse 
among  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  ;  and  desire  to  show  to 
the  world,  that  different  opinions  on  the  philosophy  of  mo- 
rals, like  different  opinions   on  the  philosophy  of  physics, 
may  only  argue  a  variety  of  intellectual  powers,  and  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  those  powers  are  developed. — 
This  promised  and  prescribed  uniformity  in  the  perceptions 
of  religious  truth,  is  purely  chimerical.     Theologians,  in 
expecting  it,  have  necessarily  been  disappointed  ;  and  scep- 
tics, in  demanding  it,  or  calling  for  a  unity  which  admits  of 
no  versatility  of  general   character,  have  comdemned  the 
purest  philosophy,  when   they  supposed  themselves  to  be 
assailing  Christianity. 

Having  yielded  to  a  request,  often  and  kindly  urged,  to 
prepare  these  lectures  for  the  press,  I  now  lay  my  publica- 


360  LECTURES  ON 

tion  on  the  altars  of  the  sanctuary,  and  before  him,  to 
whom  every  christian,  and  every  minister,  should  be  able 
to  appeal  for  the  purity  of  his  motives.  Nor  would  I  cher- 
ish any  other  anxiety  about  it,  than  that  it  may  do  good 
and  not  evil  ;  and  more  particularly,  that  young  men,  who 
are  in  great  danger  of  mistaking  the  present  agitation  of 
society,  may  be  led  to  the  only  refuge — the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  They  may  not  be  aware,  how  far  the  influence 
of  past  ages  is  in  conflict  with  the  advance  of  science,  or 
opposed  to  the  strong  sense  of  personal  responsibility, 
which  is  pervading  both  church  and  state.  Ardently  should 
we  all  desire  that  these  may  not  be  driven  into  infideli- 
ty;  and,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  every  one  should  la- 
bor to  explain  to  them  the  principles  of  the  christian  sys- 
tem. Young  ministers  might  be  the  sympathizing  coun- 
sellors of  the  companions  of  their  youth.  But,  perhaps, 
even  some  of  them,  distracted  by  the  multitude  of  systems, 
which  theological  seminaries  are  very  tenderly  rescuing 
from  the  grave,  may  be  helplessly  hanging  on  the  arm  of 
some  ecclesiastical  father,  who  can  scarcely  realize  that  his 
son  has  become  a  man.  Or,  it  may  be  that,  confiding  in 
the  strength  of  their  position,  or  complacently  reposing  on 
the  promises  of  an  evanescent  popularity,  or  fearing  some 
inquisitorial  outrage  to  which  the  law  of  their  party  may 
subject  them  ;  they  may  not  have  forecast  enough  to  di- 
vine, nor  courage  enough  to  prepare  for  any  probable 
changes. — May  God  save  our  young  men  from  the  impend- 
ing ruin  !  Should  my  volumes  fall  intotheir  hands,  may  he 
so  sanctify  the  general  discussion,  as  to  lead  them  to  estimate 
their  personal  responsibility,  and  to  induce  them  to 
think  for  themselves. 

Dear  brethren — I  often  look  forward  to  the  coming  times, 
with  a  feeling  that  is  painfully  intense,  and  in  the  anxious 
musings  of  my  own  heart,  ask  myself,  how  our  children 
shall  fare  amid  the  religious  distractions  and  political  tur- 
moils, which  have  commenced  their  apparently  ill-omened 


MORAL  GOVERNMENT.  361 

career  ?  The  ancient  mode  of  religious  instruction,  by  which 
the  memories  of  children  were  stored  with  the  abstractions 
of  a  heavy  catechism,  and  under  the  imposing  but  decep- 
tive idea  that  it  was  a  form  of  sound  words,  has  sunk  in- 
to disuse,  as  it  ought  to  have  done.  The  substitute  which 
should  have  been  adopted,  or  a  prayerful  parental  effort 
diligently  to  teach  "  the  statutes  and  commandments  of  the 
Lord"  as  they  are  distinctly  stated  in  his  own  bible,  has 
not  been  faithfully  employed.  The  rising  generation  are 
growing  up  in  comparative  ignorance  of  divine  truth,  to 
betray,  I  fear,  their  moral  imbecility  or  perverseness,  when 
their  fathers  shall  be  lying  in  the  dust.  Great  reliance  is  re- 
posed in  some  periodical  excitement,  to  produce  which 
much  undignified  and  violent  effort  is  made  ;  and  religious 
ceremonies  are  increasing,  while  spiritual  intelligence  is 
becoming  more  and  more  defective.  The  christian,  who 
loves  the  church,  and  yearns  over  the  souls  of  men — the 
moralist,  who  can  scan  human  character,  or  estimate  the 
worth  of  causes  by  the  effects  which  are  produced,  cannot 
calmly  look  at  the  scene  that  is  spread  out  before  him. 

I  speak  to  you  with  all  the  candor  and  frankness  of  one 
who  has  nothing  to  fear,  excepting  that  he  may  go  wrong ; 
and  nothing  to  desire,  but  his  Master's  approbation  and 
blessing.  I  pray  and  beseech  you  to  bring  your  children 
to  the  mercy-seat,  and  importunately  to  implore  the  glori- 
fied Saviour  to  bless  them.  Unfold  to  their  view  the  trea- 
sures, the  exceeding  riches  of  grace  and  glory,  which  the 
bible  conveys  to  your  fire-sides  and  to  your  bosoms.  Teach 
them  to  plead  for  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  to  rest  upon  them. 
And  when  you  die,  leave  them  the  blessings  of  your  faith, 
and  charge  them  never  to  forget  that  the  bible — the  bi- 
ble— is  the  charter  of  their  heavenly  hopes,  and  the  coun- 
sellor in  their  earthly  sorrows. 

May  God  give  his  Spirit  to  you  and  your  children  !  and 
discover  to  you  and  them  the  unutterable  value  of  his  bi- 
ble !  May  the  light  of  his  countenance  guide  and  cheer 
Vol.  11—31 


362  LECTURES  ON 

you  throughout  your  earthly  pilgrimage  !  and  bring  you  at 
last,  regenerated,  redeemed,  and  glorified,  to  dwell  with 
him  forever,  in  his  high  and  holy  habitation ! 


END    OF    VOL.    II. 


a"^  C 


V* 


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